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THE  WORKS 


BISHOP  COSIN. 


Lr,v> 


1 


X  '     ^  »^l  ^         -w  «i*f  \   1  »  w  •   '  "^     I 


WORKS 


RIGHT    REVEREND    FATHER    IN    GOD 


JOHN  C  0  S I N,  vv^  . 


LOED    BISHOP   OF   DURHAM, 


^NOW    FIRST    COLLECTED.^ 


oov 


VOLUME   THE   FIRST. 
SERMONS.   . 


\ 


©xfortr  anti  ILontion: 

JAMES    PARKER    AND    CO. 


H  DCCC  LXXIV. 


PREFACE. 


Bishop  Cosin,  the  faithful  and  trusted  adherent  of  King 
Charles  the  Martyr,  the  friend  of  Montague  and  Laud,  the 
first  who  was  deprived  of  his  dignities  in  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  and  sequestered  from  his  ecclesiastical  benefices 
by  the  puritan  faction,  was  no  less  distinguished  by  his 
unrivalled  Annotations  upon  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
than  by  his  general  powers  as  a  controversialist.  The 
writings  of  this  eminent  and  illustrious  person  will  be  al- 
ways, therefore,  interesting,  both  to  those  who  value  his 
piety,  judgment,  and  learning,  as  well  as  those  who  study 
his  life  and  character.  Some  surprise  has  been  consequently 
excited  that  his  works  have  not  been  published"  in  a  col- 
lected form.  The  present  is  the  first  attempt  made  to 
supply  this  deficiency. 

The  editor,  although  he  has  laboured  under  many  difficul- 
ties \in  collecting  the  scattered  works  of  Bishop  Cosin,  has 
still  enjoyed  many  and  important  advantages.  He  begs 
leave  in  the  first  place  to  offer  his  thanks  to  the  Warden 
and  Senate  of  the  University  of  Durham  for  their  kindness 
in  permitting  him  to  make  use  of  transcripts  of  some  of  the 

'  In  1692,  about  twenty  years  after  interrupted  the  execution  of  this  pro- 

the  death  of  Bishop  Cosin,  Dr.  Thomas  ject,  and  it  was  ultimately  abandoned. 

Smith,  anxious,  as  he  informs  us,  that  The  manuscripts  collected    by   Smith 

the  theological  writings  of  such  an  emi-  for   this   purpose   (which    are    neither 

nent  Divine  should  not  be  permitted  to  numerous    nor   very    important),    are 

remain  in  obscurity,  contemplated  the  deposited  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  and 

publication  of  such  of  them    as  were  have  been  employed  in  the  formation 

then  unprinted.  Adverse  circumstances  of  the  present  edition. 


VI  PREFACE. 

unprinted  remains  of  Bishop  Cosin,  which  are  to  be  found 
in  their  Library,  To  the  Venerable  Charles  Thorp,  D.D., 
Archdeacon  of  Durham,  and  the  Venerable  "VV.  F.  Ray- 
mond, M.A.,  Archdeacon  of  Northumberland,  the  ofl&cial 
Trustees  of  the  Library  bequeathed  by  Bishop  Cosin  to  the 
clergy  of  the  diocese  of  Durham,  he  is  indebted  for  the 
opportunity  of  examining  at  his  leisure  the  Bishop's  Cor- 
respondence, his  Notes  on  the  Common  Prayer,  and  various 
other  manuscripts.  His  warmest  gratitude  is  due  to  the 
Dean  and  Chapter  of  Durham,  for  their  kindness  in  afford- 
ing him  the  privilege  of  inspecting  the  Registers  and  other 
private  documents  belonging  to  that  Cathedral  Church, 
with  which  Cosin  was  intimately  connected,  first  as  Pre- 
bendary and  afterwards  as  Bishop,  for  nearly  half  a  century. 
And  by  the  liberality  of  the  same  body,  he  is  now  enabled 
to  lay  before  the  public  the  Sermons  ^  which  are  contained 
in  the  present  volume. 

These  Sermons  embrace  a  period  of  time  extending  from 
1621  to  1659,  the  first  having  been  preached  shortly  after 
his  admission  into  Holy  Orders,  and  the  last  not  long  before 
his  return  from  his  seventeen  years'  exile.  Although  allusion 
is  made  to  several  others  **,  these  are  the  only  Sermons  which 
are  preserved.  Having  been  preached  for  the  most  part 
upon  the  festivals  of  the  Church,  they  are  intended  to  illus- 
trate the  events  which  the  services  of  the  day  commemorate**. 
They  advocate  with  much  skill  and  learning,  and  with  no 
nconsiderable  powers  of  eloquence,  the  truths  of  the  Gospel 
as  exhibited  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England  ; 
opposing   the   erroneous    extremes    of    modern   Romanism 

^  The  original   Sermons  are  bound  247 ;  and  the  present  volume,  p.  131, 

up   into    one   small    volume    and   are  24'8. 

marked  A.  iv.  31.     It  does  not  appear  •*  See  p.  1,  44,  206, 323,  &c.     Finita 

how  they  came  into  the  possession  of  concione,    quas    partem    aliquam    vel 

Dr.  George  Smith,  Prebendary  of  Dur-  Evangelii  vel    Epistolte,    vel    alterius 

ham,  by  whom  they  were  presented  to  loci  S.  Scripturas  et  explicare  et  appli- 

the  Library  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter.  care  solet  ...Cosin.  de  Eccl.  Anglicanae 

•=  See    Evelyn's    Memoirs,   i.    241,  religione  &c.,  cap.  xvi. 


PREFACE.  Vll 

on  the  one  hand,  and  of  Dissent  on  the  other.  The  wide 
extent  of  their  author's  reading^  in  almost  every  depart- 
ment of  literature  enabled  him  to  illustrate  his  subject 
from  a  variety  of  sources  j  but  it  is  obvious  that  the  exe- 
getical  and  dogmatical  teaching  of  the  Primitive  Church 
formed  his  chief  study  ^  Traces  of  his  acquaintance  with 
the  writings  of  Hooker s,  and  yet  more  frequently  with 
those  of  Andrewes '',  are  perceptible.  It  is  no  less  difficult 
to  imagine  how  the  individual  by  whom  they  were  preached 
should  have  been  *  looked  upon  as  popishly  affected/  tiian 
to  reconcile  some  opinions  and  practices  attributed  to  him, 
with  the  general  tendency  of  their  doctrines. 

The  editor  originally  intended  to  have  prefixed  a  Life  of 
Bishop  Cosin,  but  circumstances  occurred  which  induced 
him  to  reserve  for  another  part  of  the  work  the  various 
notices  which  he  had  collected ;  and  instead  of  an  original 
memoir,  to  substitute  that  which  had  appeared  in  the  Bio- 
graphia  Britannica>.  This  narrative,  although  not  without 
its  faults  and  its  omissions,  gives  a  tolerably  acccurate  ac- 
count of  the  events  of  the  Bishop's  life.  It  is  compiled'' 
chiefly  from  the  following  sources. 

"  The  dead  man's  real  speech,  a  funeral  sermon  preached 

*  It  would  appear  that  the  Bishop  volume  (Pref.  p.  xxxvi.);  but  later  ex- 

fiequently  quoted  from  memory,  and  amples  are  probably  uncommon, 

sometimes  fell  into  errors  by  so  doing.  *  Seep.  101,  103. 

Thus,  for  example,  he  cites  as  from  ''  Besides  the  instances  pointed  out 

the  Psalms  a  text  wliich  is  taken  from  at  p.  103,  104,  124,  &c.,  compare  p.  60 

the   Canticles,   (p.  327,)   and   ascribes  with  Andr.  Serm.  v.  498;   p.  76  with 

(p.  145.)  to  Euripides  a  passage  from  Andr.  v.  522 ;   p.  202  with  Andr.  iii, 

Menander,  (Meineke,  Fragm.    Comic.  64;  p. 257  with  Andr.  iii.  65;  p.  117 

Graec.  iv.  76.  ed.  Berol.  1841.)  with  Andr.  iii.  130,  &c.   The  connexion 

'  One  peculiarity  in  their  structure  between  Andrewes  and  Cosin  is  men- 
seems  worthy  of  notice.  Tiie  preacher  tioned  in  the  Life  in  this  volume,  p.  xiii. 
commences  with  some  observations  for  '  Edit.  1750.  p.  1474.  The  edition 
the  purpose  of  connecting  the  subject-  of  the  dissenter  Kippis  should  be  used 
matter  of  the  sermon  with  the  peculiar  with  caution,  as  he  did  not  scruple, 
services  of  the  day  ;  he  then  introduces  when  it  suited  his  purpose,  to  mutilate 
the  Bidding-Prayer,  and  the  text  then  the  text  which  he  professed  to  reprint, 
follows.  Instances  of  this  arrangement  '^  The  fragment  of  Cosin's  auto- 
are  to  be  fonnd  in  the  sermons  of  biography,  which  is  preserved  among 
Bishop  Andrewes  (Serm.  ii.  39,  101;  the  Tanner  MSS.,  and  printed  by 
iii.  131,  203),  and  a  few  other  divines  Gutch  in  his  Collectanea  Curiosa,  ii. 
(Heylyn's  Tracts,  p.  153),  as  Basire,  in  19,  was  unknown  to  the  writer  of  the 
the  Funeral  Sermon  reprinted  in  this  memoir  here  reprinted. 

b2 


vm  PREFACE. 

on  Heb.  xi.  4,  upon  the  29th  of  April,  1672  ^,  together  with 
a  brief  of  the  life,  dignities,  benefactions,  principal  actions 
and  sufferings,  and  of  the  death  of  the  said  late  Lord  Bishop 
of  Durham ;  published  (upon  earnest  request)  by  Isaac 
Basire,  D.D,,  chaplain  in  ordinary  to  his  Majesty,  and  Arch- 
deacon of  Northumberland.'^  8vo.  Lond.  1673. 

Basire  had  ample  opportunities  of  knowing  the  truth  of 
what  he  has  here  recorded.  In  1632  he  accompanied  Morton, 
whose  chaplain  he  then  was,  into  the  diocese  of  Durham™; 
and  the  intercourse  with  Cosin  which  then  commenced,  was 
continued  from  that  period  almost  without  interruption.  In 
1636  he  was  presented  by  Morton  to  the  rectory  of  Egglesclif"; 
on  December  12,  1643,  he  was  collated  to  the  seventh  stall 
in  the  Cathedral  Church  of  Durham  °;  and  in  ]644  he  was 
appointed  archdeacon  of  Northumberland  p.  In  the  rebellion 
which  followed,  he  was  driven  from  his  preferments  and  com- 
pelled to  reside  abroad,  exposed,  like  Cosin,  to  many  priva- 
tions, and,  like  him,  steadfast  to  the  faith  of  his  fathers. 
When  Cosin  became  bishop  of  Durham,  Basire  returned  to 
his  arcbdeaconry,  in  fulfilling  the  duties  of  which  he  was 
necessarily  brought  into  close  and  frequent  intercourse  with 
his  diocesan.  These  circumstances  carrying  his  recollec- 
tions back  over  a  space  of  forty  years,  stamp  much  value 
upon  his  memoir;  but  unfortunately,  from  its  discursive 
style  it  contains  less  information  than  might  reasonably 
have  been  anticipated. 

'Vita  reverendissimi  et  eruditissimi  viri  Joannis  Cosin, 
episcopi  Dunelmensis,  scriptore  Thoma  Smitho,  S.  Theologiae 
Doctore  et  Ecclesise  Anglicanse  presbytero ;  *  inserted  in 
Smith's  'Vitse  quorumdam  eruditissiraorum  virorum,'  4to. 
Lond.  1707. 

'  See  the  present  volume,  p.  xxxix,  °  Dean    Balanquall's    Register,    i. 

"  See  'Life  and  Correspondence  of  174,  b. 

Dr.  Basire,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Darnell,'  i'  Darnell,  p.  43;  Le  Neve's  Fasti, 

8vo.  Lond.  1831,  p.  4.  p.  355. 

■»  Darnell,  p.  23. 


PREFACE.  IX 

Smith  informs  usi  that  although  his  memoir  is  founded 
upon  that  of  Basire,  yet  he  had  collected  much  information 
from  persons'^  who  had  been  acquainted  with  the  Bishop 
when  in  Paris,  London,  and  Durham.  And  as  Smith  was 
in  communication  with  his  namesake  Dr.  John  Smith  and 
Sir  George  Wheeler,  both  prebendaries  ®  of  Durham,  from 
whom  he  obtained  some  of  the  Bishop's  manuscripts,  it 
may  reasonably  be  inferred  that  they  would  furnish  what- 
ever local  information  they  could  collect  respecting  the 
object  of  their  correspondent's  enquiries.  The  Life  supplies 
details  which  are  not  mentioned  by  Basire,  but  it  is  written 
in  a  style  which  makes  it  even  less  inviting  than  his  bio- 
graphical sketch  above  mentioned. 

"With  the  exception  of  the  instances  pointed  out  in  the 
note  *,  the  editor  is  responsible  for  the  marginal  references 
and  the  annotations  which  accompany  this  volume. 

1  Praef.,  p.  vi.  was  appointed  prebendary  by  Cosin  ; 

'  One  of  these  was  Evelyn  ;  see  his  Hutchinson's  Hist,  of  Durham,  ii.  222. 

Memoirs,  i.  251,  &c.   ed.    1818,   and  edit  1823. 
Smith,  p.  5.  note.  '  P.  87,  note. 

•  Praef.,  p.  vii.,  viii.  Dr.  John  Smith 


THE   LIFE 

OF 

THE  EIGHT  REVEREND  FATHER  IN  GOD 

JOHN   COSIN, 

ILOKD  BISHOP  OF  DURHAM. 


LIFE   OF   COSIN. 


CosTN  (John)  a  learned  bishop  of  Durham  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Giles  Cosin,  a  citizen  of 
Norwich  %  by  Elizabeth  his  wife,  daughter  of —  Remington, 
of  Remington  castle,  a  good  and  ancient  family''.  He  was 
born  at  Norwich,  November  30,  1594,  and  educated  in  the  [1595.] 
free  school  there,  till  he  came  to  be  fourteen  years  of  age. 
Then  he  was  transplanted  into  Cains  College  in  Cambridge 
in  1610,  of  which  he  was  successively  chosen  scholar  and 
fellow :  and  where  he  regularly  took  his  degrees  in  arts  '^. 
Having  distinguished  himself  by  his  learning,  diligence,  and 
ingenuity,  in  the  year  1616,  when  he  was  about  twenty 
years  of  age,  he  had  an  oflfer,  at  the  same  time,  both  from 
Dr.  Lancelot  Andrewes,  then  bishop  of  Ely,  and  from  Dr. 
Overall,  bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  of  a  librarian's 
place.  But  by  his  late  tutor's  advice,  he  accepted  of  the 
latter^s  invitation;  who  liked  him  so  well,  that,  on  account 
of  his  knowledge  and  fair  writing  he  made  him  also  his 
secretary  '^.  At  the  same  time  he  encouraged  him  to  study 
divinity,  and  sent  him  from  time  to  time  to  keep  his  exer- 
cises in  the  University*.  But,  in  1619,  he  lost  his  excellent 
patron,  and  with  him  all  hopes  and  prospect  of  advance- 
ment ^  However,  providence  soon  raised  him  a  better 
patron  in  Dr.  Richard  Neile,  then  bishop  of  Durham,  who 
took  him  for  his  domestic  chaplain,  and  in  1624  conferred 
upon  him  the  tenth  prebend  in  the  cathedral  church  of 
Durham  [A],  in  which  he  was  installed  the  4th  of  December 

•  But  originally  of  Foxhearth.     He  Smitho.'    Lend.  1707.  4to.  p.  1. 
was  a  very  rich  man,  and  a  person  of  *■■  Dr.  Smith  ib.,  and  Dr.  Basire,  p. 

great  probity.  36,^43. 

*•  See  '  The  dead  man's  real  speech,'  •*  Smith,  p.  1,  2. 

a  funeral   sermon    on    bishop  Cosin,  «  Basire,  ubi  supra. 

&c.,  by  Isaac  Basire,  8vo.  Lond.  1673.  '  Bishop  Overall  died  May  7,  [12,] 

p.  38;..  and  'Vita  Joannis  Cosini  epi-  1619,  having  the  year  before  been  trans- 

scopi  Dunelmensis.    Scriptore  Thoma  lated  to  Norwich. 


XIV  LIFE    OF    COSIN. 

that  same  year  s.  In  September  following,  he  was  collated 
to  the  archdeaconry  of  the  East  Riding  in  the  church  of 
York,  vacant  by  the  resignation  of  Marmaduke  Blakeston, 
whose  daughter  he  had  married^.  And  on  the  20th  of 
July  1626,  was  moreover  collated  by  his  patron,  Bishop 
iNeile,  to  the  rich  rectory  of  Branspeth  [B],  in  the  diocese 
of  Durham  \  The  same  year,  he  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
in  Divinity  ^.  About  that  time,  having  frequent  meetings  at 
the  bishop  of  Durham's  house  in  London,  with  Dr.  William 
Laud,  then  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  Dr.  Francis  White, 
soon  after  bishop  of  Carlisle,  Dr.  Richard  Montague,  and 
other  learned  men,  distinguished  by  their  zeal  for  the  doc- 
trine and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England,  he  began  to 
be  obnoxious  to  the  then  Puritans,  who  (so  great  was  their 
malice  or  ignorance)  looked  upon  all  such  divines  as  popishly 
affected  ^.  This  imputation  of  theirs  on  Mr.  Cosin  in  parti- 
cular, was  sufficiently  authorized,  as  they  imagined,  by  his 
'Collection  of  Private  Devotions,'  [C]  published  in  1627, 
wherein  many  things  were  thought  too  much  favourable  to 
popery.  But  how  wrong  this  imputation  was,  let  his  whole 
conduct  testify.  In  1628  he  was  concerned,  with  other 
members  of  the  Church  of  Durham,  in  a  prosecution  against 
Peter  Smart,  prebendary  there,  for  a  seditious  sermon 
preached  in  that  cathedral  [D].     About  the  same  time  he 

[1635.]  took  his  degree  of  Doctor  in  Divinity ;  and  in  1634,  Feb- 
ruary the  eighth,  was  elected  Master  of  Peter -House,  in 
the  room  of  Dr.  Matthew  Wren,  newly  made  Bishop  of 
Hereford.  In  that  station  he  strenuously  applied  himself 
to  promote  sound  religion  and  useful  learning '".  He  served 
the  office  of  Vice-Chancellor  for  the  University  of  Cambridge 

[1639.1       ^^  1640.     And  the  same  year  King  Charles  the  First,  to 

whom  he  was  chaplain,  conferred  upon  him  the  deanery  of 

Peterborough,  in  which  he  was  installed  November  7,  1640". 

But  this  dignity  he  did  not  long  enjoy,  or  rather  he  did 

not  quietly  enjoy  it  at  all,  since  his  troubles  began  three  days 

K  Smith  and  Basire,  ubi  supra.    See  "^  Smith,  p.  4. 

also  Survey  of  the  Cathedrals  of  York,  '  Ibid. 

Durham,  &c.,  by  Br.  Willis,  Esq.,  4to.  "  Ibid.,  p.  8,  9,  10. 

Lond.  1727.  vol.  i.  p.  273.  "  Ibid.,  p.  9,  II,  and  J.  le  Neve's 

h  Willis,  ibid.,  p.  100.  Fasti,  edit.  1716.  p.  24]. 

'  Smith  and  Basire,  as  above. 


LIFE    OF    COSIN.  XV 

after.  For  on  the  10th  of  November,  a  petition  from  Peter 
Smart,  against  him,  was  read  in  the  House  of  Commons  . 
wherein  Smart  complained  of  the  Doctor's  superstition  and 
innovations  in  the  church  of  Durham,  and  of  his  severe  pro- 
secution in  the  High-Commission  Court".  Whereupon,  on 
the  21st  of  the  same  month,  Dr.  Cosin  was  ordered  to  be  sent 
for  by  the  serjeant-at-arms,  and  a  committee  appointed  to 
prepare  a  charge  against  him  p.  Soon  after,  he  presented  a 
petition  to  the  House,  which,  on  the  28th  following,  was  read, 
and  referred  to  a  committee  i.  On  the  3rd  of  December,  the 
Serjeant  had  leave  given  him  by  the  Commons,  to  take  bail 
for  Dr.  Cosin ;  which  was  accordingly  done,  the  19th  of 
January,  1640-41 ;  the  Doctor  himself  being  bound  in  two 
thousand  pounds,  and  his  securities  in  a  thousand  pounds 
apiece,  for  his  appearance  upon  summons  •".  Three  days 
after,  namely,  January  the  22nd,  he  was  by  a  vote  of  the 
whole  House,  sequestered  from  his  ecclesiastical  benefices, 
being  the  first  clergyman  that  was  then  used  in  that 
manner  ^  On  the  15th  of  March  ensuing,  the  Commons 
sent  up  one -and -twenty  articles  of  impeachment  against 
him  [E]  to  the  House  of  Lords ' ;  to  which  the  Doctor  put 
in  his  answer  upon  oath;  and  so  fully  vindicated  himself* 
during  the  five  days  the  affair  was  depending  before  the 
Lords,  that  most  of  them  acknowledged  his  innocence ;  and 
Mr.  Glover,  one  of  Smart^s  own  counsel,  told  him  openly  at 
the  bar  of  the  House  of  Lords,  *  that  he  was  ashamed  of 
him,  and  could  not  in  conscience  plead  for  him  any  longer.' 
Whereupon  the  Lords  dismissed  the  Doctor,  upon  his  put- 
ting in  bail  for  his  appearance;  but  they  never  sent  for 
him  again  ^. 

About  the  same  time,  upon  a  motion  being  made  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  *  that  he  had  enticed  a  young  scholar 


°  Rushworth's    Historical   Collect,  Lond.  1714.  P.  ii.  p.  58. 

P.    iii.  vol.   i.   edit.    1721.   p.  41,   53;  '  Rushworth,    ubi    supra,    p.  188; 

and  Dr.  Nalson,  &c.,  edit.  1682.  vol.  i,  and  Nalson,  vol.  i.  p.  789,  790. 

p.  518.  "  Both  by  his  own  self,  and  by  the 

P  Nalson,  ibid.,  p.  538.  very  witness  that  Smart  and  his  son- 

1  Ibid.,  p.  569.  in-law  produced  against  him.    Examen 

'  Ibid.,  p.  651.  Historicum,  p.286. 

*  Attempt    towards    recovering    an  "  Walker,   ubi   supra,   p.   59 ;    and 

Account  of  the  numbers  and  sufferin^rs  Smith,   p.  10,    11;    and   Heylyn's  Ex- 

of  the  Clergy,  &c.,  by  J.  Walker,  fol.  amen  Historicum,  p.  286, 


XVI  LIFE    OF    COSIN. 

to  popery/  he  was  committed  to  the  serjeant-at-arms,  to 
attend  daily  till  the  House  should  call  him  to  a  hearing. 
After  fifty  days'  imprisonment,  and  charges  of  twenty  shil- 
lings a-day,  he  came  at  length  to  a  hearing ;  when  he  made 
it  appear,  that  being  Vice-Chancellor  of  Cambridge,  he  had 
most  severely  punished  that  young  scholar,  (whom,  upon 
examination  he  had  found  guilty),  by  making  him  recant, 
and  expelling  him  the  University.  And  to  this  some  of 
the  members  bore  witness.  However,  the  Doctor  had  no 
manner  of  reparation  made  him  for  his  great  trouble  and 
expenses;  which  gives  but  a  disadvantageous  idea  of  the 
justice  and  honesty  of  that  House''. 

In  1642  he  was  concerned,  with  others,  in  sending  the 
plate  of  Cambridge  University  to  King  Charles  the  First, 
then  at  York ;  for  which  a  furious  storm  fell  upon  several 
members  of  that  university,  and  particularly  upon  Dr.  Cosin ; 
who  having  some  time  before  ^  been  voted  unworthy  to  be 
a  Head  or  Governor  in  either  of  the  Universities,  or  to  hold 
or  enjoy  any  ecclesiastical  promotion,  was  ejected  from  his 
Mastership  by  a  warrant  from  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  dated 
March  13th,  1642-3.  So  that,  as  he  was  the  first  that  was 
sequestered,  so  was  he  also  the  very  first  of  his  University, 
who  was  turned  out  y. 

Thus  being  deprived  of  all  his  preferments,  and  still  fear- 
ing the  worst  that  might  follow,  he  thought  fit  to  leave 
the  kingdom,  and  to  withdraw  to  Paris,  in  the  year  1643. 
Being  safely  arrived  to  that  place,  he  did,  according  to  King 
Charles's  order  and  direction,  take  under  his  care,  and 
officiate  as  chaplain  to,  such  of  Queen  Henrietta  Maria's 
household  as  were  protestants.  With  them,  and  other  Eng- 
lish exiles  that  were  daily  resorting  to  Paris,  he  formed  a 
congregation,  that  assembled  at  first  in  a  private  house  and 
afterwards  in  the  chapel  of  Sir  Richard  Brown,  ambassador 
from  the  court  of  England  to  that  of  France.  Not  long 
after,  he  had  lodgings  assigned  him  in  the  Louvre,  with 
a  small  pension,  on  account  of  the  relation  he  bore  to 
Queen  Henrietta  *. 

"^  Persecutio  undecima,  p.  23 ;  Nal-      above,  p.  734. 
son,  as  above,  p. 568.  ^  Walker,  ubi  supra,  p.  152. 

*  January  22,  1640-41 ;  Nalson,  as  '■  Smith,  p.  12,  13,  14. 


LIFE    OF    COSIN.  XVll 

During  his  residence  in  this  place,  he  shewed  how  false 
and  groundless  was  the  imputation  that  had  been  thrown 
upon  him  '  of  his  being  popishly  affected  ;'  for  notwithstand- 
ing his  great  straits,  he  remained  steady  and  unmoved  in 
the  profession  of  the  protestant  religion.  He  kept  up  the 
English  Church-discipline,  and  the  form  of  worship  appointed 
by  the  Common  Prayer  j  he  reclaimed  some  that  were  quite 
gone  over  to  popery,  and  confirmed  several  more  in  the 
protestant  profession,  who,  by  their  converse  with  Romanists, 
were  become  wavering,  and  inclinable  to  entertain  favour- 
able opinions  of  the  popish  tenets*.  He  also  had  several 
controversies  and  disputes  with  divers  Jesuits  and  Romish 
priests ;  particularly  once  with  the  Prior  of  the  English 
Benedictines  at  Paris  [F],  in  which  he  acquitted  himself 
with  so  much  learning  and  sound  reasoning,  that  he  utterly 
defeated  the  suspicions  of  his  enemies,  and  much  exceeded 
the  very  expectations  of  his  friends  ^.  There  were  made  him 
very  great  offers  of  preferment  [G],  if  he  would  have  been 
tempted  thereby  to  alter  his  religion ;  but  he  stood  proof 
against  them  all*'.  He  composed,  during  his  exile,  several 
learned  works,  chiefly  against  the  Roman  Catholics ;  of 
which  we  shall  give  an  account  below. 

Though  he  was  extremely  zealous  for  the  doctrine  and 
discipline  of  the  Church  of  England,  yet  he  kept  a  friendly 
intercourse  and  correspondence  with  the  protestant  minis- 
ters at  Charenton  [II]  ;  who,  on  their  parts,  expressed  the 
utmost  regard  for  him,  and  permitted  him  sometimes  to 
officiate  in  their  congregations  [I]  according  to  the  rites 
prescribed  by  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer^. 

Thus  having,  during  his  seventeen  years'  exile  in  France, 
behaved  '  discreetly  and  prudently,'  even  in  the  judgment  of 
his  enemies  ^,  he  returned  to  his  native  country  at  the  Re- 
storation of  King  Charles  the  Second,  and  took  possession 
again  of  his  preferments  and  dignities.  About  the  end  of 
July  1660,  he  came  to  his  deanery  at  Peterborough,  and 

*  See  Examen  Historicum,  ut  supra,  «■  See  D.  Neal's  History  of  the  Puri- 

p.  293.  tans,  vol.  ii;  edit.  1733.   p.  388.     Mr. 

*"  Fuller,  Ch.  Hist.,  B.  xi,  p.  173.  Neal  adds  tliat  the   Doctor  was  '  soft- 

=  Walker,  ubi  supra,  p.  60.  ened  in  his  principles  by  age  and  suf- 

^  Smith,  ubi  supra,  p.  19,  20  ;   Ex-  ferings.' 
amen  Historicum,  p.  291,  292. 


XVlll  LIFE    OF    C08TN. 

was  the  first  that  read  the  Common  Prayer,  in  that  cathe- 
dral, after  the  late  times  of  confusion  f.  But  here  he  was 
not  suffered  to  rest ;  for  the  king  designed,  a  very  little 
while  after,  to  make  him  dean  of  Durham,  but  reflecting  on 
his  sufferings  and  upon  his  constant  attendance  and  services 
beyond  the  seas,  he  nominated  him  bishop  of  that  rich  see  ^. 
Accordingly,  he  was  consecrated  on  the  2nd  of  December, 
1660,  in  Westminster  Abbey*'.  As  soon  as  he  could  go 
down  into  his  diocese,  he  set  about  reforming  many  abuses 
that  had  crept  in  there  during  the  late  anarchy ;  and  by  his 
generous  and  hospitable  temper,  accompanied  with  a  kind 
and  courteous  deportment,  he  gained  an  universal  respect 
and  esteem  ^  But  he  chiefly  distinguished  himself  by  his 
very  great  munificence  and  charity,  and  by  a  public  spirit. 
For,  considering  himself  principally  as  steward  of  the  large 
revenues  belonging  to  his  see,  he  laid  out  a  great  share  of 
them  in  repairing  or  rebuilding  the  several  edifices  belong- 
ing to  the  bishopric  of  Durham,  which  had  either  been  de- 
molished or  neglected  during  the  civil  wars.  For  instance, 
he  repaired  the  castle  at  Bishop's  Auckland,  [K]  and  that 
at  Durham,  which  he  enlarged  with  some  additional  build- 
ings, and  repaired  the  bishop's  house  at  Darlington,  then 
very  ruinous.  He  also  enriched  his  new  chapel  at  Auck- 
land, and  that  in  the  castle  of  Durham,  with  several  pieces 
of  gilt  plate,  books,  and  other  costly  ornaments,  to  remain 
to  his  successors  in  the  bishopric  for  ever ;  the  charge  of  all 
which  buildings,  repairs,  ornaments,  &c.  amounted  to  no 
less  than  twenty-six  thousand  pounds'^.  He  likewise  built 
and  endowed  two  hospitals ;  the  one  at  Durham  for  eight 
poor  people,  the  other  at  Auckland  for  four ;  the  annual 
revenue  of  the  first  being  seventy  pounds,  and  of  the  other 
thirty  pounds ;  and  near  his  hospital  at  Durham,  rebuilt  the 
school- houses,  to  the  charge  of  three  hundred  pounds.  He 
also  built  a  library  near  the  castle  of  Durham,  the  charge 

'  See    Mr.  Sim.  Gunton's   Hist,  of  '  Smith,  p.  21,  22,  23.    In  1661,  he 

Peterburgh,  Supplem.,  p.  339.  was  one  of  the  commissioners  at  the 

«  Basire,  p.  49.  Savoy  conference,  where  he  yielded  to 

•■  Register  and  Chronicle  Ecclesias-  some  moderating  concessions.  See  Life 

tical  and  Civil,  &c.  by  Bishop  Kennet,  of  R.  Baxter,  fol.  1.  i.  part  ii.  p.  305. 

edit.   1728.  fol.  p.  323.     Dr.  Sancroft  ''  Dr.  Smith  says,  it  was  only  near 

preached  the  consecration  sermon  ;  vid.  sixteen    tliousand   pounds.      Vita,    ut 

Smith,  p.  21.  supra,  p.  24,  25. 


LIFE    OF    COSIN.  XIX 

whereof,  and  pictures  wherewith  he  adorned  it,  amounted  to 
eight  hundred  pounds,  and  gave  books  thereto,  to  the  value 
of  two  thousand  pounds ;  as  also  an  annual  pension  of  twenty- 
marks  for  ever  to  a  library  keeper.  The  college  of  dissolved 
prebends  at  Auckland,  purchased  by  Sir  Arthur  Haselrigg, 
and  by  him  forfeited  to  the  king,  which  King  Charles  the 
Second  gave  to  Bishop  Cosin  in  fee,  he  gave  to  his  suc- 
cessors, bishops  of  Durham,  for  ever  ;  the  value  thereof  being 
three  hundred  and  twenty  pounds.  He  rebuilt  the  east 
end  of  the  chapel  at  Peter-House,  in  Cambridge,  which  cost 
three  hundred  and  twenty  pounds ;  and  gave  in  books  to 
the  library  of  that  college,  a  thousand  pounds.  He  founded 
eight  scholarships  in  the  same  University;  namely,  five  in 
Peter-House,  of  ten  pounds  a-year  each ;  and  three  in  Gonvill 
and  Caius  college,  of  twenty  nobles  apiece  per  annum ;  both 
which,  together  with  a  provision  of  eight  pounds  yearly 
to  the  common  chest  of  these  two  colleges  respectively, 
amounted  to  two  thousand  five  hundred  pounds.  He  like- 
wise made  an  augmentation  of  sixteen  pounds  a-year  to  the 
vicarage  of  St,  Andrews,  at  Auckland  ^  The  rest  of  his 
numerous  benefactions  we  shall  give  an  account  of  in  the 
note  [L],  In  a  word,  this  generous  bishop,  during  the 
eleven  years  he  sat  in  the  see  of  Durham,  is  said  to  have 
spent  above  two  thousand  pounds  a-year,  in  pious  and  cha- 
ritable uses "". 

The  two  last  years  of  his  life  he  enjoyed  but  a  very  in- 
different state  of  health,  being  very  much  afflicted  with  the 
stone.  At  length  the  '  roaring  pains  '  of  thg,t  distemper,  as 
he  used  to  call  them,  together  with  a  pectoral  dropsy,  put  an 
end  to  his  most  valuable  life",  at  his  house  in  Pall  Mall, 
Westminster,  on  the  fifteenth  of  January,  1671-2,  when  he 
was  seventy-seven  years,  one  month,  and  sixteen  days  old  ". 
In  his  will,  dated  December  the  11th,  1671,  he  made  a 
large  and  open  declaration  of  his  faith  [M]. 

About  the  year  1625,  he  married  Frances,  daughter  of  [13  Aug, 
Marraaduke   Blakeston,   M.A.  p,  by  whom   he   had   a  son, 


'  Smith,  ubi  supra,  p.  25.  p  Archdeacon   of  the    East    Riding 

"*  Basire,  ubi  supra,  p.  79,  80.  and  prebendary  of  York  and  Durham, 

"  Ibid.,  p.  86,  87.  &c.     See   Willis,   ubi    supra,    p.  100, 

"  Smith,  ubi  supra,  p.  27,  28.  180,  209;  and  Basire  as  above. 


XX  LIFE    OF    COSIN. 

whom   he    disinherited    on   account   of  his  embracing  po- 

Mary]       pery  [N]  ;  and  four  daughters,  one  married  to  Sir  Gilbert 

bethT       Grerard,  Bart.,  another  to  Sir  [Thomas]  Burton,  Bart.,  and 

the  youngest  to  Dr.  Denys  Granville,  brother  to  the  earl  of 

Bath,  and  afterwards  dean  of  Durham^. 

As  for  the  Bishop's  body,  it  was  for  some  time  deposited 
in  a  vault  in  London;  and  in  April,  1672,  conveyed  to 
Bishop's  Auckland,  in  the  diocese  of  Durham  ;  where,  on  the 
twenty-ninth  of  that  month,  it  was  buried  in  the  chapel  be- 
longing to  the  palace,  under  a  tomb  of  black  marble,  with 
an  inscription  [O]  prepared  by  the  Bishop  in  his  lifetime  ^ 
We  shall  give  an  account  of  his  works  in  the  note  [P],  As 
to  his  personal  qualifications,  the  Bishop  was  tall  and  erect, 
and  had  a  grave  and  comely  presence.  He  had  a  sound 
understanding,  well  improved  with  all  kinds  of  useful  learn- 
ing. And,  as  for  his  hospitality,  generosity,  and  charity, 
they  were  so  very  conspicuous  and  extensive,  that  he  is 
justly  reckoned  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  munificent, 
if  not  the  most  munificent,  of  all  the  bishops  of  Durham  ^ 
Among  many  other  services  he  did  to  his  see,  one  was  the 
obtaining  a  release  (in  compensation  of  the  loss  that  see 
suffered  by  taking  away  the  court  of  Wards  and  Liveries)  of 
the  annuity  or  pension  of  one  thousand  pounds*,  charged 
upon  that  bishopric  ever  since  Queen  Elizabeth's  days". 

1  Smith,    p.   26,   and    from    private  Smith,  ibid, 

information.  «  See  Basire,  p.  37,  103. 

•■  Smith,  p.   28 ;    Willis,  ubi  supra,  '  Or,  eight  hundred   and  fourscore 

p.  251.  pounds.     Basire,  p.  56. 

The  burial  service  was  read  by  "  See  Willis,  ubi  supra,  p.  228,  811. 
Guy  Carlton,  bishop  of  Bristol  and  This  thousand  pounds  was  for  keep- 
prebendary  of  Durham  ;  and  Dr.  Isaac  ing  a  garrison  at  Berwick  against  the 
Basire  preached   the   funeral  sermon.  Scots. 


APPENDIX. 

[A]  And  in  1624,  conferred  upon  him  the  tenth  prebend  in  the 
cathedral  church  of  Durham.']  All  the  while  he  enjoyed  it,  which 
was  about  six-and- thirty  years,  he  was  very  constant  in  his  resi- 
dences, both  ordinary  and  extraordinary,  during  which  he  kept 
a  laudable  hospitality,  according  to  the  statutes  of  that  Church. 
So  that  Dr.  Basire  testifies '  that  upon  search  of  the  register  of 
that  cathedral,  he  could  not  find  one  dispensation  for  him  in  all 
the  time  he  continued  prebendary. 

[B]  Was  moreover  collated  by  his  patron.  Bishop  NeiU,  to  the  rich 
rectory  of  Branspeth.']  The  parochial  church  of  which  he  beautified 
in  an  extraordinary  manner ''. 

[C]  His  Collection  of  Private  Devotions.']  The  title  of  it  was, 
*  A  Collection  of  Private  Devotions ;  or,  The  Hours  of  Prayer.' 
Dr.  Smith  informs  us '  that  it  was  written  at  the  command  of  King 
Charles  the  First,  who  observing  that  his  queen's  protestant  at- 
tendants were  frequently  reading  in  '  The  Hours  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,'  and  other  popish  books  of  devotion,  that  were  set,  perhaps 
on  purpose,  about  the  royal  apartments,  lest  they  should  thereby 
be  tainted  with  superstition  and  other  false  principles,  he  ordered 
a  manual  of  prayers  to  be  composed  for  their  use,  out  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  the  ancient  liturgies ;  which  was  accordingly  done 
by  Mr.  Cosin.  Others  affirm  ^,  that  it  was  written  at  the  request 
of  the  countess  of  Denbigh,  the  duke  of  Buckingham's  sister.  This 
lady  being  then  somewhat  unsettled  in  her  religion,  and  warping 
towards  popery,  these  Devotions  were  drawn  up  to  recommend  the 
Church  of  England  farther  to  her  esteem,  and  to  preserve  her  in 
that  communion.  This  book,  although  furnished  with  a  great  deal 
of  good  matter,  was  not  altogether  acceptable  in  the  contexture ; 
although  the  title-page  sets  forth  that  it  was  formed  upon  the 
model  of  a  book  of  private  prayers,  authorized  by  Queen  Elizabeth 
in  the  year  1560^.  To  give  the  reader  some  part  of  it;  after  the 
Calendar,  it  begins  with  the  Apostles'  Creed  in  twelve  articles,  the 
Lord's  Prayer  in  seven  petitions,  the  Ten  Commandments,  with 

»  Ubi  supra,  p.  44,  45.  «  Ubi  supra,  p.  5,  6. 

^  See  the    Hist,   of  the   Cathedral  <■  Collier,  Eccl.  Hist,  vol.  ii.  p.  742. 

Church    of   Durham,  by   Sir  William  *  Horarium  Regia  Authoritate  Edi- 

Dugdale,  p.  81,  at  the  end  of  his  Hist.  turn,  ann.  1560;  and  reprinted  in  1573, 

of  St.  Paul's,  second  edit.  1716,  fol.  cum  privilegio,  by  "Will.  Seers. 


XXll  APPENDIX. 

the  duties  enjoined,  and  the  sins  forbidden.  Then  follow  the 
precepts  of  charity,  the  seven  sacraments,  the  three  theological 
virtues,  the  three  kinds  of  good  works,  the  seven  gifts  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  twelve  fruits  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  spiritual  and 
corporal  works  of  mercy,  the  eight  beatitudes,  the  seven  deadly 
sins,  their  opposite  virtues,  and  the  four  last  things.  And,  after 
some  explanatory  prefaces  and  introductions,  were  subjoined  the 
forms  of  prayer  for  the  first,  third,  sixth,  and  ninth  hours,  and  like- 
wise for  the  Vespers  and  Compline,  formerly  called  the  Canonical 
Hours.  Next  to  these  was  the  litany,  the  seven  penitential  psalms, 
prayers  preparatory  for  receiving  the  Holy  Eucharist,  prayers  to 
be  used  in  time  of  sickness,  and  at  the  approach  of  death,  &c. 

Though  this  book  was  approved  by  George  Mountain,  Bishop  of 
London,  and  licensed  with  his  own  hand,  yet  it  was  somewhat  sur- 
prising at  first  view,  and  some  moderate  persons  were  shocked  with 
it,  as  drawing  too  near  the  superstitions  of  the  Church  of  Home  ;  at 
least  they  suspected  it  as  a  preparation  to  further  advances.  The 
top  of  the  frontispiece  had  the  name  of  Jesus,  in  three  capital  letters, 
I.  H.  S.  Upon  these  was  a  cross,  encircled  with  the  sun,  supported 
by  two  Angels,  with  two  devout  women  praying  towards  it. 

This  book  was  severely  animadverted  upon  by  Henry  Burton,  in 
his  '  Examination  of  Private  Devotions :  or  the  Hours  of  Prayer  ^, 
&c. ;'  and  by  W.  Prynne,  in  his  '  Brief  Survey  and  Censure  of 
Mr.  Cozen's  cozenizing  Devotions  s.' 

[D]  In  1628  he  was  concerned,  with  other  members  of  the  Church  of 
Durham,  in  a  prosecution  against  Peter  Smart,  ^c]  This  Peter  Smart, 
who  had  been  schoolmaster  at  Durham,  was  collated  Dec.  30,  1609, 
to  the  sixth  prebend  in  the  church  of  Durham,  and  removed  July  6, 
1614,  to  the  fourth  prebend^.  He  had  also  other  preferments. 
Being  to  preach,  July  7,  1628i,  in  the  cathedral  church  of  Durham, 
he  took  for  his  text  Psalm  xxxi.  7, '  I  hate  them  that  hold  of  super- 
stitious  vanities.'  From  which  he  took  occasion  to  make  a  most 
bitter  invective  against  some  of  the  bishops,  charging  them  with  no 
less  than  popery  and  idolatry.  Among  other  virulent  expressions 
he  had  these — p.  11:'  The  Whore  of  Babylon's  bastardly  brood 
doting  upon  their  mother's  beauty,  that  painted  harlot  of  the 
Church  of  Kome,  have  laboured  to  restore  her  all  her  robes  and 
jewels  again  ;  especially  her  looking-glass,  the  mass,  in  which  she 
may  behold  her  bravery' — 'The  mass  coming  in,  brings  with  it 
an  inundation  of  ceremonies,  crosses  and  crucifixes,  chalices  and 

f  Lond.  1628,  4to.  '  Dr.  Nalson    says,  by    mistake,  it 

s  Ibid,  1628.  was  1638,  p.  518.     But  he  was  sus- 

^  Willis,  as  above,  p.  266,  268.  pended  for  his  sermon  in  1631. 


APPENDIX.  XXUl 

images,  copes  and  candlesticks,  tapers  and  basons,  and  a  thousand 
such  trinkets ;  which  we  have  seen  in  'this  Church,  since  the  com- 
munion-table was  turned  into  an  altar,' — p.  26,  *I  assure  you 
the  altar  is  an  idol,  a  damnable  idol  as  it  is  used.  I  say,  they  are 
whores  and  whoremongers,  they  committed  spiritual  fornication, 
who  bow  their  bodies  before  that  idol,  the  altar — &c.' 

Tor  this  sermon  he  was  questioned,  first  at  Durham,  afterwards 
in  the  High-Commissioned-Court  at  London ;  whence  he  was  re- 
moved, at  his  own  desire,  to  that  at  York,  where  refusing,  with 
great  scorn,  to  recant,  he  was,  for  his  obstinacy,  degraded,  and 
by  sentence  at  Common  Law,  soon  after  dispossessed  of  his  pre- 
bend and  livings  ;  whereupon  he  was  supplied  with  400/.  a  year 
by  subscription  from  the  puritan  party'',  which  was  more  than 
all  his  preferments  amounted  to. 

As  for  Dr.  Cosin,  he  was  so  far  from  being  Mr.  Smart's  chief 
prosecutor,  as  he  avers,  that  after  he  was  questioned  in  the  High 
Commission  at  Durham,  he  never  meddled  in  the  matter,  save  that 
once  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  archbishop  of  York,  and  the  com- 
missioners, in  his  favour  i. 

Mr.  Smart's  character  is  not  represented  to  any  great  advantage. 
One  author  indeed  ™  calls  him  a  man  *  of  a  grave  aspect,  and  re- 
verend presence.'  But  another,  who  knew  him  better",  assures 
us,  '  that  he  was  an  old  man,  of  most  froward,  fierce,  and  uu- 
peaceable  spirit,  &c.'  He  had  not  preached  in  the  cathedral 
church  of  Durham,  though  prebendary  of  it,  for  seven  years,  till 
he  preached  that  seditious  sermon  for  which  he  was  questioned. 
And  whilst  he  held  and  enjoyed  his  preferment,,  and  his  health 
too,  he  seldom  preached  more  than  once  or  twice  a  year. 

[E]  The  Commons  sent  up  one-and-twenty  articles  of  impeachment 
against  him.'^  They  were  carried  up  by  one  Mr.  Eouse,  who  intro- 
duced them  with  the  following  speech.  '  My  Lords,  I  am  com- 
manded by  the  House  of  Commons,  to  present  yoiir  Lordships 
a  declaration  and  impeachment  against  Dr.  Cosins,  and  others, 
upon  the  complaint  of  Mr.  Peter  Smart ;  which  Mr.  Smart  was 
a  proto-martyr,  or  first  confessor  of  note  in  the  late  days  of  per- 
secution. The  whole  matter  is  a  tree,  whereof  the  branches 
and  fruit  are  manifest  in  the  articles  of  this  declaration.'  Then 
follow  these  articles  against  Dr.  Cosin. 

1 .  That  he  was  the  first  man  that  caused  the  Communion-table 

•i  Out  of  the  peculiar  contributions  Historicum,  p.  258,  &c.      Compare  it 

at  London  and  elsewliere,  gathered  up  with  that  in  Fuller's  Ch.  Hist.,  B.  X. 

for  silenced  ministers.  p.  173. 

'  This  is  Dr.  Cosin's  own  account,  ""  Fuller,  ibid, 

as  published  in  Dr.  Heylyn's  Examen  "  Dr.  Cosin,  ubi  supra. 

c2 


XXIV  APPENDIX. 

in  the  church  of  Durham  to  be  removed  and  set  altar-ways,  in 
the  erecting  and  beautifying  whereof,  he  (being  then  treasurer) 
expended  two  hundred  pounds  °. 

2.  That  he  used  to  officiate  at  the  west  side  thereof,  turning  his 
back  to  the  people, 

3.  That  he  used  extraordinary  bowing  to  it. 

4.  That  he  compelled  others  to  do  it,  using  violence  to  the  per- 
sons of  them  that  refused  so  to  do  ;  for  instance,  once  some  omitting 
it,  he  comes  out  of  his  seat,  down  to  the  seat  where  they  sat,  being 
gentlewomen,  called  them  whores  and  jades,  and  pagans,  and  the 
like  unseemly  words,  and  rent  some  of  their  clothes. 

5.  That  he  converted  divers  prayers  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayers,  into  hymns,  to  be  sung  in  the  choir,  and  played  with  the 
organ,  contrary  to  the  ancient  custom  of  that  Church. 

6.  That  whereas  it  had  been  formerly  a  custom  in  that  Church, 
at  the  end  of  every  sermon,  to  sing  a  psalm ;  this  custom,  when 
Dr.  Cosin  came  thither,  was  abrogated,  and  instead  thereof,  they 
sung  an  anthem  in  the  choir,  there  being  no  psalm  sung  either  at 
the  minister's  going  up  into  the  pulpit,  or  at  his  coming  down. 

7.  That  the  first  Candlemas-day  at  night,  that  he  had  been  in 
that  Church,  he  caused  three  hundred  wax  candles  to  be  set  up 
and  lighted  in  the  church  at  once,  in  honour  of  Our  Lady,  and 
placed  threescore  of  them  upon  and  about  the  Altar. 

8.  That  in  this  church  there  were  reliques  of  divers  images, 
above  which  were  remaining  the  ruins  of  two  seraphims,  with 
the  picture  of  Christ  between  them,  erected  in  Queen  Mary's  time, 
in  the  time  of  popery ;  all  which,  when  Queen  Elizabeth  came  to 
the  crown,  were  demolished  by  virtue  of  a  commission  by  her  to 
that  intent  granted,  which  so  continued  demolished  from  that  time, 
till  Dr.  Cosin  came  to  that  Church,  who,  being  treasurer,  caused 
the  same  to  be  repaired,  and  most  gloriously  painted. 

9.  That  all  the  time  he  was  unmarried,  he  wore  a  cope  of  white 
satin,  never  officiating  in  any  other,  it  being  reserved  solely  for 
him,  no  man  excepting  himself  making  use  thereof,  which  after 
marriage  he  cast  off,  and  never  after  wore. 

10.  That  there  was  a  knife  belonging  to  the  church,  kept  alto- 
gether in  the  vestry,  being  put  to  none  but  holy  uses,  as  cutting 
the  bread  in  the  Sacrament  and  the  like ;  Dr.  Cosin  refusing  to 
cut  the  same  with  any  other  but  that,  thinking  all  others  that 
were  unconsecrated,  polluted,  but  that,  which  he  putting  holiness 
in,  never  termed  but  the  consecrated  knife. 

°  Mr.  Fuller  says,  that  it  was  a  cost  2,000^.,  with  all  the  appurtenances 
marble   altar  with   cherubims,  which      thereof.    See  Fuller,  ubi  supra,  p.  173. 


APPENDIX.  XXV 

11.  That  in  a  sermon  preached  in  that  church,  he  did  deliver 
certain  words  in  disgrace  of  the  reformers  of  our  Church ;  for 
instance,  the  words  were  these  :  *  The  reformers  of  this  Church, 
when  they  abohshed  the  mass,  took  away  all  good  order,  and, 
instead  of  a  reformation,  made  it  a  deformation  p.' 

12.  That  he  seldom  or  never,  in  any  of  his  sermons,  styled  the 
ministers  of  the  Word  and  Sacraments  by  any  other  name  than 
priests,  nor  the  Communion-table  by  any  other  name  than  Altar. 

13.  That  by  his  appointment  there  was  a  cope  bought,  the  seller 
being  a  convicted  Jesuit,  and  afterwards  employed  in  that  church, 
having  upon  it  the  picture  of  the  invisible  and  incomprehensible 
Trinity. 

14.  That  whereas  it  had  been  formerly  a  custom  in  that  Church, 
at  five  of  the  clock  to  have  morning  prayers  read,  winter  and 
summer;  this  custom,  when  Dr.  Cosin  came  thither,  was  aban- 
doned ;  and  instead  thereof  was  used  singing  and  playing  on  the 
organs,  and  some  few  prayers  read,  and  this  was  called  first-ser- 
vice j  which  being  ended,  the  people  departed  out  of  the  church, 
returning  at  nine  o'clock,  and  having  then  morning  prayers  read 
unto  them,  and  this  was  called  second  -  service  ;  which  innova- 
tion being  misliked,  and  complained  of  by  Mr.  Justice  Hutton,  was 
reformed. 

15.  That  he  framed  a  superstitious  ceremony,  in  lighting  the 
tapers  which  were  placed  on  the  Altars,  which,  for  instance,  was 
this ;  a  company  of  boys  that  belonged  to  the  church,  came  in  at 
the  choir  door  with  torches  in  their  hands  lighted,  bowing  towards 
the  Altar  at  their  first  entrance,  bowing  thrice  before  they  lighted 
their  tapers  ;  having  done,  they  withdrew  themselves,  bowing  so 
oft  as  before,  not  once  turning  their  back  parts  towards  the  Altar, 
the  organs  all  the  time  going. 

16.  That  he  counselled  some  young  students  of  the  University 
to  be  imitators  and  practisers  of  his  superstitious  ceremonies,  who, 
to  ingratiate  themselves  in  his  favour,  did  accordingly  ;  and  being 
afterwards  reproved  for  the  same,  by  some  of  their  friends,  con- 
fessed that  Dr.  Cosin  first  induced  them  to  that  practice,  and  en- 
couraged them  therein. 

17.  That  he  used,  upon  Communion  days,  to  make  the  sign  of  the 
Cross  with  his  finger,  both  upon  the  seats  whereon  they  were  to  sit, 
and  the  cushions  to  kneel  upon,  using  some  words  when  he  so  did. 


P  Dr.  Nalson  informs   us   that  the  '  religion.'     Which   he  made   out   by 

Doctor's  words  were,  '  That  we  must  producing  his   sermon.     Nalson,   ubi 

'  not  think  that  when  the  Bishops  took  supra,  p.  792. 
•  away  the  mass,  they  took  away 


XXVI  APPENDIX. 

18.  That  one  sabbatb-day  there  was  set  up  an  unnecessary  com- 
pany of  tapers  and  lights  in  the  church,  which  Dr.  Hunt,  being 
then  dean,  fearing  they  might  give  offence,  being  they  were  then 
unnecessary,  sent  his  man  to  pull  them  down,  who  did  so ;  but 
Dr.  Cosin  being  thereat  aggrieved,  came  to  the  fellow,  and  there 
miscalled  him  in  a  most  uncivil  manner,  and  began  to  beat  him 
in  the  public  view  of  the  congregation,  to  the  great  disturbance 
of  the  same. 

19.  That  the  dean  and  chapter  of  that  Church,  whereof  Dr.  Cosin 
was  one,  with  many  others,  being  invited  to  dinner  in  the  town 
of  Durham,  Dr.  Cosin  then  and  there  spake  words  derogating  from 
the  king's  prerogative  :  the  words  were  these ;  '  The  king  hath  no 
more  power  over  the  Church  than  the  boy  that  rubs  my  horse 
heels.' 

20.  That  there  being  many  of  the  canons  of  the  said  Church 
present  at  that  time,  amongst  the  rest  there  was  one  took  more 
notice  of  his  words  than  the  rest,  and  acquainted  one  of  his  fellow- 
canons  with  them  when  he  came  home.  This  canon  being  a  friend 
to  Dr.  Cosin,  told  the  Doctor  that  such  a  man  exclaimed  of  him, 
and  charged  him  with  words  that  he  should  speak  at  such  a  time ; 
the  Doctor  presently  sends  for  him,  and  when  he  came  into  the 
house,  the  Doctor  desires  him  to  follow  him  into  an  inner  room, 
who  did  so ;  but  so  soon  as  he  came  in,  the  Doctor  shuts  the  door, 
and  sets  both  his  hands  upon  him,  calling  him  rogue  and  rascal, 
and  many  other  names,  insomuch  that  the  man  fearing  he  would  do 
him  a  mischief,  cried  out ;  Mrs.  Cosin  coming  in,  endeavoured  to 
appease  her  husband,  and,  holding  his  hands,  the  other  ran  away. 

21.  That  the  Doctor  did  seek  many  unjust  ways  to  ensnare  this 
man,  that  so  he  might  take  a  just  occasion  to  put  him  out  of  his 
place ;  but  none  of  them  taking  effect,  he  put  him  out  by  violence, 
having  no  other  reason  why  he  did  so,  but  because  he  had  no  good 
voice,  when  he  had  served  the  place  two  years  before  Dr.  Cosin 
came  thither ;  for  instance  of  which  unjust  ways  to  ensnare  this 
man  Dr.  Cosin  hired  a  man  and  woman  to  pretend  a  desire  of 
matrimony,  and  to  offer  a  sum  of  money  to  this  petty  canon  to 
contract  matrimony  between  them  in  a  private  chamber,  so  there- 
upon to  take  advantage  of  his  revenge  upon  him.  This  plot  being 
confessed  by  the  parties,  to  be  first  laid  by  Dr.  Cosin,  and  that 
they  were  his  instruments  i. 

Besides  the  several  particulars  mentioned  in  these  articles, 
Mr.  Fuller  informs  us  that  Dr.  Cosin  was  accused  of  having  bought 

1  Nalson,  ubi  supra,  p.  789,  790;  Proceedings  of  Parliament  in  1640> 
and  the  Diurnall  Occurrences  or  Daily      and  1641,  Lond.  1641.  4to.  p.  52,  &c. 


APPKNDIX.  XXVll 

a  cope  with  the  Trinity,  and  God  the  Father  in  the  figure  of  an 
old  man ;  another  with  a  crucifix,  and  the  image  of  Christ,  with 
a  red  beard  and  a  blue  cap.  And  to  have  made  an  anthem  to  be 
sung,  of  the  Three  Kings  of  CoUen,  by  the  names  of  Gasper, 
Balthazar,  and  Melchior '. 

To  these  articles  Dr.  Cosin  put  in  his  answer,  upon  oath,  before 
the  House  of  Lords,  as  is  above  related.  But  seeing  afterwards 
the  substance  of  them  published  in  Mr.  Fuller's  Ecclesiastical 
History',  he  wrote  from  Paris  a  letter  to  Mr.  Warren,  and  Dr. 
Reves,  in  his  own  vindication,  dated  April  6,  1658,  wherein  he 
declares,  as  he  had  done  before  the  Lords, 

1.  That  the  Communion-table  in  the  church  of  Durham  (which 
in  the  bill  of  complaint  and  Mr.  Fuller's  History,  is  said  to  be  the 
marble  Altar,  with  cherubims),  was  not  set  up  by  him  (Dr.  Cosin), 
but  by  the  dean  and  chapter,  (whereof  Mr.  Smart  himself  was  one,) 
many  years  before  Mr.  Cosin  became  prebendary  of  that  church, 
or  ever  saw  the  country. 

2.  That  by  the  public  accounts  which  are  there  registered,  it  did 
not  appear  to  have  cost  above  the  tenth  part  of  what  is  pretended, 
appurtenances  and  all  *. 

3.  That  likewise  the  copes  used  in  that  church  were  brought  in 
thither  long  before  his  (Dr.  Cosin's)  time,  and  when  Mr.  Smart,  the 
complainant,  was  prebendary  there,  who  also  allowed  his  part  (as 
be  (Dr.  Cosin)  was  ready  to  prove  by  the  Act  Book)  of  the  money 
that  they  cost,  for  they  cost  but  little. 

4.  That  as  he  never  approved  the  picture  of  the  Trinity,  or  the 
image  of  God  the  Father  in  the  figure  of  an  old  man,  or  otherwise, 
to  be  made  or  placed  any  where  at  all ;  so  he  was  well  assured 
that  there  was  none  such  (nor  to  his  knowledge  or  hearsay  ever 
had .  been)  put  upon  any  cope  that  was  used  there.  One  there 
was  that  had  the  story  of  the  Passion  embroidered  upon  it,  but 
the  cope  that  he  used  to  wear,  when  at  any  time  he  attended  the 
Communion-Service,  was  of  plain  white  satin  only,  without  any 
embroidery  upon  it  at  all. 

5.  That  what  the  bill  of  complaint  called  the  image  of  Christ, 
with  a  blue  cap,  and  a  golden  beard,  (Mr.  Fuller's  History  says  it 
was  red,  and  that  it  was  set  upon  one  of  the  copes,)  was  nothing 
else  but  the  top  of  Bishop  Hatfield's  tomb,  (set  up  in  the  church, 
under  a  side-arch  there,  two  hundred  years  before  Dr.  Cosin  was 
born,)  being  a  little  portraiture,  not  appearing  to  be  above  ten 

'  Fuller,  Cli.  Hist.,  ubi  supra.  mentioned  in  the  original  articles  was 

»  B.  XI.  p.  173.  2000/.,    though    in    the   printed    ones 

'  By   this   it  seems,  that  the   sum      there  is  only  200/.    See  above,  note  o. 


XXVlll  APPENDIX. 

inches  long,  and  hardly  discernible  to  the  eye  what  figure  it  is, 
for  it  stands  thirty  foot  from  the  ground. 

6.  That  by  the  local  statutes  of  that  church,  (whereunto 
Mr.  Smart  was  sworn,  as  well  as  Dr.  Cosin,)  the  treasurer  was  to 
give  order,  that  provision  should  every  year  be  made  of  a  sufficient 
number  of  wax  lights  for  the  service  of  the  choir,  during  all  the 
winter  time  :  which  statute  he  (Dr.  Cosin)  observed  when  he  was 
chosen  into  that  office,  and  had  order  from  the  dean  and  chapter, 
by  capitular  act,  to  do  it ;  yet  upon  the  Communion-table  they  that 
used  to  light  the  candles,  never  set  more  than  two  fair  candles,  with 
a  few  small  sizes  near  to  them,  which  they  put  there  of  purpose, 
that  the  people  all  about  might  have  the  better  use  of  them  for 
singing  the  psalms,  and  reading  the  lessons  out  of  the  Bibles ;  but 
two  hundred  was  a  greater  number  than  they  used  all  the  church 
over,  either  upon  Candlemas  night  or  any  other. 

7.  That  he  never  forbad  (nor  any  body  else  that  he  knew)  the 
singing  of  the  (metre)  psalms  in  the  church,  which  he  used  to  sing 
daily  there  himself,  with  other  company,  at  morning  prayer.  But 
upon  Sundays  and  holydays,  in  the  choir,  before  the  sermon,  the 
Creed  was  sung,  (and  that  plainly  for  every  one  to  understand,)  as  it 
is  appointed  in  the  Communion-book ;  and  after  the  sermon,  was 
sung  a  part  of  a  psalm,  or  some  other  anthem  taken  out  of  the  Scrip- 
ture, and  first  signified  to  the  people  where  they  might  find  it. 

8.  That  so  far  was  he  from  making  any  anthem  to  be  sung  of 
the  Three  Kings  of  Colen,  as  that  he  made  it,  when  he  first  saw 
it,  to  be  torn  in  pieces,  and  he  himself  cut  it  out  of  the  old  song- 
books  belonging  to  the  choristers'  school,  with  a  pen-knife  that 
lay  by,  at  his  very  first  coming  to  that  college.  But  he  was  sure 
that  no  such  anthem  had  been  sung  in  the  choir  during  all  his 
time  of  attendance  there,  nor  (for  aught  that  any  of  the  eldest 
persons  of  the  church  and  town  could  tell,  or  ever  heard  to  the 
contrary),  for  fifty  or  threescore  years  before,  or  more. 

9.  That  there  was  indeed  an  ordinary  knife,  provided  and  laid 
ready  among  other  things  belonging  to  the  administration  of  the 
Communion,  for  the  cutting  of  the  bread,  and  divers  other  uses  in 
the  church-vestry.  But  that  it  was  ever  consecrated,  or  so  called, 
otherwise  than  as  Mr.  Smart,  and  some  of  his  followers  had,  for 
their  pleasure,  put  that  appellation  upon  it,  he  (Dr.  Cosin)  never 
heard,  nor  believed  any  body  else  had,  that  lived  at  Durham  ". 

The  rest  of  the  articles  mentioned  above,  Mr.  Smart  could  not 

"  This  Letter  is  printed  in  Dr.  Hey-  wards  asked  Dr.  Cosin's  pardon  for 
lyn's  Examen  Historicum,  &c.  Ap-  what  he  had  said  as  above,  relating  to 
pendix,  p.  283,  &c.     Dr.  Fuller  after-      him.  See  Worthies,  in  Durham,  p.  295. 


APPENDIX.  XXIX 

prove,  and  Dr.  Cosin  gave  a  very  satisfactory  answer  to  them, 
remaining  upon  the  rolls  of  Parliament.  But  as  Mr.  Fuller  did  not 
specify  them  all,  the  Doctor  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  repeat  in 
this  letter  his  answer  to  each  of  them. 

Upon  the  whole,  therefore,  as  we  cannot,  on  the  one  hand,  enough 
wonder  at  the  weakness  of  Dr.  Cosin,  for  inventing  and  pressing 
the  observance  of  such  ceremonies  and  insignificant  things,  as 
some  of  those  above  mentioned ;  so,  on  the  other  hand,  who  can 
be  sufficiently  amazed  at  the  confidence  of  P.  Smart,  in  charging 
the  Doctor  with  things  which  he  could  so  easily  disprove.  And 
what  must  be  thought  or  said  of  that  House  of  Commons  which 
would  encourage  and  receive  such  kinds  of  accusations. 

[F]  Particularhj  once  with  the  Prior  of  the  English  Benedictines 
at  Paris.']  The  Prior's  name  was  —  Bobinson.  And  the  controversy 
between  him  and  Dr.  Cosin  was  managed  both  by  word  and  writing. 
The  argument  was,  concerning  the  validity  of  the  ordination  of  our 
priests,  &c.,  in  the  Church  of  England.  And  the  Doctor  had  the 
better  so  far,  that  he  could  never  get  from  the  Prior  any  reply  to 
his  last  answer. 

This  conference  was  undertaken  to  fix  a  person  of  honour  then 
wavering  about  that  point.  The  sum  of  the  conference  was  written 
by  Dr.  Cosin  to  Dr.  Morley,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Winchester,  in 
two  letters,  bearing  date  June  11  and  July  11,  1645*. 

[G]  There  were  made  him  very  great  offers  of  preferment.']  One 
author  speaks  upon  this  point  to  the  following  purpose y :  *  Dr.  Cosin 
being  by  the  violence  of  the  persecution  which  was  raised  against 
the  episcopal  party,  forced  to  quit  his  native  country,  and  seek 
a  retreat  amongst  the  papists  in  France ;  he  continued  a  most  un- 
shaken protestant,  and  bold  propagator  of  the  Reformed  religion, 
even  to  the  hazard  of  his  life ;  and  when  the  necessitous  condition 
to  which  he  was  reduced,  and  all  the  advantageous  ofiers  imaginable 
were  made  him  to  embrace  the  Roman  communion,  yet  were  not 
those  temptations  capable  of  removing  him  from  his  foundation, 
insomuch,  that  despairing  of  ever  obliging  him  to  change  his  reli- 
gion, the  papists  were  so  enraged  at  him,  as  I  have  heard  it  from 
his  own  mouth,  frequently  to  threaten  him  with  assassination,  and 
that  he  should  not  escape  pistol  or  poignard:  and  in  revenge, 
which  I  have  heard  him  aver  was  the  most  sensible  affliction  that 
ever  befel  him  in  his  whole  life,  they  inveigled  his  only  son  from 
him  to  become  a  papist  ^.' 

*  Basire,  ubi  supra,  p.  59,  60.  ing  in  a  Jesuit's  school,  as  were  many 
y  Nalson,  as  above,  p.  519.  others  of  our  youths  during  the  civil 

*  Hewas  educated  in  grammar  learn-      war,  which  corrupted  him.  Smith,  p.  13. 


XXX  APPENDIX. 

"We  may  add  this  other  testimony  of  Doctor  Cosin's  attachment 
to  the  Reformed  religion.  *  Whilst  he  remained  in  Prance,  he  was 
the  Atlas  of  the  protestant  religion,  supporting  the  same  with  his 
piety  and  learning,  confirming  the  wavering  therein,  yea,  daily 
adding  proselytes  (not  of  the  meanest  rank)  thereunto  *.' 

[H]  Se  hept  a  friendly  intercourse  and  correspondence  with  the 
protestant  ministers  at  CharentonJ]  One  author  indeed  tells  US'", '  that 
after  getting  over  into  Trance,  he  neither  joined  with  the  church  of 
French  protestants  at  Charenton,  nigh  Paris,  nor  with  the  papists, 
— but  confined  himself  to  the  Church  of  old  English  protestants 
therein.'  But  Dr.  Cosin,  in  opposition  to  the  former  part  of  that 
assertion,  declared  to  all  the  world,  that  he  never  refused  to  join 
with  the  protestants  there,  or  any  where  else,  in  all  things  wherein 
they  joined  with  the  Church  of  England '.  And  that  he  was  con- 
stant in  the  same  opinion,  appears  by  a  letter  of  his,  dated  from 
Paris,  Feb.  7,  1650,  to  one  Mr.  Cordel,  then  at  Blois,  who  seemed 
shy  to  communicate  with  the  protestants  there,  upon  the  scruple 
of  their  inorderly  ordination,  in  which  letter  he  has  this  pas- 
sage : — '  To  speak  my  mind  freely  to  you,  I  would  not  wish  any 
of  ours  absolutely  to  refuse  communicating  in  their  church,  or  de- 
termine it  to  be  unlawful,  for  fear  of  a  greater  scandal  that  may 
thereupon  arise,  than  we  can  tell  how  to  answer  or  excuse  "*.' 

[I]  And  permitted  him  sometimes  to  officiate  in  their  congregations. 1 
Where  he  baptized,  married,  and  had  even  some  persons  ordained 
priests  and  deacons  by  English  bishops,  according  to  the  several 
forms  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  With  their  consent  like- 
wise, he  did,  in  the  year  1645,  '  solemnly,  in  his  priestly  habit,  with 
his  surplice,  and  with  the  office  of  burial  used  in  the  Church  of 
England,  inter,  at  Charenton,  the  body  of  Sir  William  Carnaby, 
Knt.,  not  without  the  troublesome  contradiction  and  contention 
of  the  Romish  curate  of  that  parish  ^.' 

[K]  He  repaired  the  castle  of  Bishop^ s  AucTcland.']  This  (the  chief 
country  seat  of  the  bishops  of  Durham),  was,  upon  the  seizure  of 
the  Bishop's  land,  bestowed  upon  Sir  Arthur  Haselrigg ;  who  de- 
signing to  make  it  his  principal  seat,  and  not  liking  the  old-fash- 
ioned building,  resolved  to  erect  a  new  and  beautiful  fabric,  all  of 
one  pile,  according  to  the  most  elegant  fashion  of  those  times. 
To  fit  himself  therefore  with  materials  for  this  his  new  house,  he 
pulled  down  a  most  magnificent  and  large  chapel,  built  by  Anthony 

»  Fuller's   Worthies,    in    Durham,  ^  See  Basire,  p.  58,    59.  and  note 

p.  295.  [P]  No.  2. 

•>  Fuller,  ubi  supra.  «  Basire,  p.  58,  and  Smith,   p.  19. 

<=  In  his  letter,  inserted  in  Heylyn's  See  particularly  Examen  Historicum, 

Examen  Historicum,  p.  283,  &c.  p.  291,  292. 


APPENDIX.  XXXI 

Bek,  bishop  of  Durham,  in  the  time  of  King  Edward  the  First; 
with  the  stone  whereof,  and  an  addition  of  what  was  deficient,  he 
erected  his  new  fabric  in  a  large  court,  on  the  east  side  of  the 
castle.  But  Bishop  Cosin,  soon  after  his  consecration,  taking 
notice  that  the  greatest  part  of  the  materials,  used  in  that  build- 
ing, were  taken  from  the  above-mentioned  consecrated  chapel,  he 
not  only  refused  to  make  use  of  it  for  his  habitation,  though  it  was 
commodiously  contrived,  and  nobly  built,  but  took  it  wholly  down, 
and  with  the  stone  thereof  built  another  beautiful  chapel  on  the 
north  side  of  that  great  court ;  and,  under  the  middle  aisle  thereof, 
caused  a  convenient  vault  to  be  made  for  his  own  sepulture '. 

[LJ  The  rest  of  his  numerotis  benefactions,  ^-c."]  They  were  as 
follows : — He  gave  to  the  cathedral  at  Durham  a  fair  carved  lec- 
tern, and  litany-desk,  with  a  large  scolloped  silver  paten,  gilt,  for 
the  use  of  the  communicants  there,  which  cost  forty-five  pounds. 

Upon  the  new  building  of  the  Bishop's  Court,  Exchequer,  and 
Chancery,  and  towards  the  erecting  of  two  Sessions-houses  at  Dur- 
ham, he  gave  a  thousand  pounds. 

Moreover,  he  gave  towards  the  redemption  of  Christian  captives 
at  Algiers,  five  hundred  pounds. 

Towards  the  relief  of  the  distressed  loyal  party  in  England,  eight 
hundred  pounds. 

For  repairing  the  banks  in  Howdenshire,  a  hundred  marks. 

Towards  the  repair  of  St.  Paul's  cathedral,  in  London,  fifty  pounds. 

By  his  will  he  bequeathed  to  the  poor  of  his  hospitals  at  Durham 
and  Auckland,  to  be  distributed  at  his  funeral,  six  pounds. 

To  the  poor  people  of  the  country,  coming  to  his  funeral,  twenty 
pounds. 

To  poor  prisoners  detained  for  debt,  in  the  gaols  of  Durham, 
York,  Peterborough,  Cambridge,  and  Norwich,  fifty  pounds. 

To  the  poor  people  within  the  precincts  of  the  cathedral  at  Nor- 
wich, and  within  the  parish  of  St.  Andrew's  there,  in  which  he  was 
born,  and  educated  in  his  minority,  twenty  pounds. 

To  the  poor  of  Durham,  Auckland,  Darlington,  Stockton,  Gates- 
head, and  Branspeth,  (all  in  the  bishopric  of  Durham,)  thirty  pounds. 

To  the  poor  in  the  parishes  of  Chester-in- the- Street,  Hough ton- 
le-spring,  North-Allerton,  Creike,  and  Howden,  (all  lordships  be- 
longing to  the  bishops  of  Durham,)  forty  pounds. 

Towards  the  re-building  of  St.  Paul's  cathedral,  in  London,  when 
it  should  be  raised  five  yards  from  the  ground,  a  hundred  pounds. 

To  the  cathedral  of  Norwich,  whereof  the  one  half  to  be  bestowed 
on  a  marble  tablet,  with  an  inscription,  in  memory  of  Dr.  John 
Overall,  some-time  bishop  there,  (whose  chaplain  he  had  been,) 

'  Dugdale,  ubi  supra,  p.  82, 


XXXll  APPENDIX. 

the  rest  for  providing  some  useful  ornaments  for  the  Altar,  forty 
pounds. 

Towards  the  re-edifying  of  the  north  and  south  sides  of  the  col" 
lege  chapel  at  Peterhouse,  in  Cambridge,  suitable  to  the  east  and 
west  ends,  already  by  him  perfected,  two  hundred  pounds. 

Towards  the  new  building  of  a  chapel  at  Emanuel  college,  in 
Cambridge,  fifty  pounds. 

To  the  children  of  Mr.  John  Heyward,  late  prebendary  of  Litch- 
field, as  a  testimony  of  his  gratitude  to  their  deceased  father,  who, 
in  his  Lordship's  younger  years,  placed  him  with  his  uncle,  Bishop 
Overall,  twenty  pounds  apiece. 

To  the  dean  and  chapter  of  Peterborough,  to  be  employed  for 
the  use  of  the  poor  in  that  town,  a  hundred  pounds. 

To  the  poor  of  Durham,  Branspeth,  and  Bishop's  Auckland,  to 
be  distributed  as  his  two  daughters  (the  Lady  Gerard,  and  the 
Lady  Burton)  should  think  best,  a  hundred  pounds. 

To  some  of  his  domestic  servants  he  gave  a  hundred  marks ;  to 
some  fifty  pounds ;  and  to  the  rest  half  a  year's  wages,  over  and 
above  their  last  quarter's  pay  s. 

[M]  In  his  will  he  made  a  large  and  open  declaration  of  his  faith.'] 
Wherein,  after  repeating  the  substance  of  the  Apostles'  and  Nicene 
Creeds,  he  condemns  and  rejects  whatsoever  heresies  or  schisms, 
the  ancient  Catholic  and  Universal  Church  of  Christ,  with  an 
unanimous  consent,  had  rejected  and  condemned;  together  with 
all  the  modem  fautors  of  the  same  heresies ;  sectaries  and  fanatics, 
who,  being  carried  on  with  an  evil  spirit,  do  falsely  give  out,  they 
are  inspired  of  God.  As  the  Anabaptists,  New  Independents,  and 
Presbyterians  of  our  country,  a  kind  of  men  hurried  away  with  the 
spirit  of  malice,  disobedience,  and  sedition. 

'  Moreover,  (adds  he,)  I  do  profess  with  holy  asseveration,  and  from 
my  very  heart,  that  I  am  now,  and  ever  have  been  from  my  youth, 
altogether  free  and  averse  from  the  corruptions  and  impertinent  new- 
fangled, or  papistical,  superstitions  and  doctrines, — long  since  intro- 
duced, contrary  to  the  holy  Scriptures,  and  the  rules  and  customs 
of  the  ancient  Fathers.  But  in  what  part  of  the  world  soever  any 
Churches  are  extant,  bearing  the  name  of  Christ,  and  professing  the 
true  Catholic  faith  and  religion,  worshipping  and  calling  upon  God 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  with  one  heart  and  voice, 
if  I  be  now  hindered  actually  to  join  with  them,  either  by  distance 
of  countries,  or  variance  amongst  men,  or  by  any  hindrance  whatso- 
ever ;  yet  always  in  my  mind  and  afiection  I  join  and  unite  with 
them ;  which  I  desire  to  be  chiefly  understood  of  protestants, 
and  the  best  Reformed  Churches,  &c.'  This  part  of  his  will  was 
s  Dugdale,  ubi  supra,  p.  83,  84,  85 ;  and  Snpith,  p.  25,  26,  27. 


APPENDIX.  XXXIU 

written  in  Latin,  and  the  latter  part,  containing  his  benefac- 
tions, in  English'^. 

[N]  He  hid  a  son,  whom  he  disinherited  on  account  of  his  em- 
bracing popery.']  See  above,  note  [G]  of  this  article.  He  was 
prevailed  upon,  not  only  to  embrace  popery,  but  also  to  take 
religious  orders  in  the  Church  of  Rome ;  and  although  Dr.  Cosin 
used  all  the  ways  imaginable,  and  even  the  authority  of  the  French 
king,  which,  by  his  interest  he  had  procured,  to  regain  him  out  of 
their  power,  and  from  their  persuasion,  yet  all  proved  ineffectual. 
Whereupon  he  disinherited  him,  allowing  him  only  an  annuity  of 
one  hundred  pounds  \  He  pretended  to  turn  again,  but  relapsed 
before  the  Bishop's  decease. 

[0]    With  an  inscription.'}  Which  runs  thus : — 

IN   NON    MORITOEAM    MEMOEIAM 

JOHANNIS  COSIN, 

EPISCOPI    DUNELMENSIS, 

ftTTI   HOC    SACELLUM    CONSTEUXIT, 

OKNAVIT,    ET   DEO    CONSECEAVIT, 

ANN.    DOM.    M,  DC,  LXV. 

IN   PESXO    8.  PETEI. 

OBirr   XV   DIE   MENSIS   JANUAUn 

ANNO   DOMINI,    MDCLXXI. 

ET   HIC    8EPTTLTUS   EST,    EXPECTANS 

PELICEM    CORPOEIS    StJI    EESUEEECTIONEM, 

AC   VITAM    IN    CCELIS   ^TEENAM. 

EEQTJIESCAT    IN    PACE. 

Round  a  marble  stone  on  the  floor  are  also  these  words  engraved : 

BEATI   M0ETX7I 

QUI    MOEIIJNTUE    IN    DOMINO, 

EEQUIESCI7NT    ENIM 

A   LABOEIBirS    STTIS ''. 

i.  e.  To  the  never-dying  memory  of  John  Cosin,  bishop  of  Dur- 
ham, who  built  and  adorned  this  chapel,  and  consecrated  it  to 
God  in  1665,  June  29.  He  died  the  15th  day  of  January,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  1671,  and  is  buried  here,  waiting  for  the  happy 
resurrection  of  his  body,  and  eternal  life  in  heaven.  Let  him  rest 
in  peace. 

Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord,  for  they  rest  from 
their  labours. 

•*  See  Basire,  p.  Ill,  &c.     Smith,  ''    Smith,   ubi    supra,    p.    28;    and 

p.  55,  &c.  J.  Le  Neve's  Monumenta  Anglicana, 

'  Nalson,    as   above,    p.  519;    and  from  1650  to  1679,  p.  171. 
Smith,  p.  13,  26.  ' 


XXXIV  APPENDIX. 

[P]  We  shall  give  an  account  of  his  works,  SfcJ]  Besides  his  Col- 
lection of  Private  Devotions,  mentioned  above,  he  published  *  A 
Scholastical  History  of  the  Canon  of  the  Holy  Scripture  ;  or  The 
Certain  and  indubitable  Books  thereof,  as  they  are  received  in  the 
Church  of  England.'  London,  1657;  4to.  reprinted  in  1672.  This 
history  is  deduced  from  the  time  of  the  Jewish  Church,  to  the  year 
1546,  that  is,  the  time  when  the  Council  of  Trent  corrupted,  and 
made  unwarrantable  additions  to,  the  ancient  canon  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  Consequently  it  was  directed  against  the  papists,  and 
was  written  by  the  author  during  his  exile  at  Paris.  He  dedicated 
it  to  Dr.  M.  Wren,  bishop  of  Ely,  then  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower. 
Dr.  P.  Gunning  had  the  care  of  the  edition  ^ 

Since  the  Bishop's  decease  the  following  books  and  tracts  of  his 
have  been  published. 

I.  'A  Letter  to  Dr.  Collins,  concerning  the  Sabbath,' dated  from 
Peterhouse,  Jan.  24, 1635™.  In  which,  speaking  first  of  the  mo- 
rality of  the  sabbath,  he  aflBrms  that  the  keeping  of  that  particular 
day  was  not  moral,  neither  by  nature  binding  all  men,  nor  by  pre- 
cept binding  any  other  men  but  the  Jews,  nor  them  farther  than 
Christ's  time.  But  then,  adds  he,  whether  one  day  of  seven,  at 
least,  do  not  still  remain  immutably  to  be  kept  by  us  Christians, 
that  have  God's  will  and  example  before,  and  by  virtue  of  the 
rules  of  reason  and  religion,  is  the  question.  And  for  this  he 
decides  in  the  affirmative.  Then  he  proves,  that  the  keeping  of 
our  Sunday  is  immutable,  as  being  grounded  upon  divine  institu- 
tion, and  apostolical  tradition,  which  he  confirms  by  several  in- 
stances. Next  he  shews,  that  the  Schoolmen  were  the  first  who 
began  to  dispute  or  deny  this  day  to  be  of  apostolical  institution, 
on  purpose  to  set  up  the  pope's  power,  to  whom,  they  said,  it 
belongeth,  either  to  change  or  abrogate  the  day. 

Towards  the  end,  he  lays  down  these  three  positions  against  the 
puritans  :  1 .  '  The  observation  of  the  Sunday  in  every  week  is  not 
commanded  us  by  the  fourth  commandment,  as  they  say  it  is.' 
2.  *  Nor  is  our  Sunday  to  be  observed  according  to  the  rule  of  the 
fourth  commandment,  as  they  say  it  is.'  3. '  Nor  hath  it  the  qualities 
and  conditions  of  the  sabbath  annexed  to  it,  as  they  say  it  hath.' 

II.  There  is  published, '  A  Letter  from  our  author  to  Mr.  Cordel, 
dated  Paris,  Feb.  7,  1650.'  See  above  note  [H].  It  is  printed  at 
the  end  of  a  pamphlet,  entitled,  'The  Judgment  of  the  Church 
of  England,  in  the  case  of  Lay  Baptism,  and  of  Dissenters' 
Baptism  '^.' 

»  Basire,  p.  66;  and  Smith,  p.  17.         ria,&c.  Lond.l723,4to.No.V.p.33,&c. 
■"  And  printed  in  Bibliotheca  Litera-  "  2nd  edit.  Lond.  1712,  8vo. 


APPENDIX.  XXXV 

III.  *  Regni  Anglise  religio  CathoHca,  prisca,  casta,  defaecata  j 
omnibus  Christianis  monarchis,  principibus,  ordinibus,  ostensa. 
Anno  MDCLH.'  i.e.  A  short  scheme  of  the  ancient  and  pure  doc- 
trine and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England  °.  Written  at  the 
request  of  Sir  Edward  Hyde,  afterwards  Earl  of  Clarendon  p. 

IV.  'Historia  Transubstantiationis  Papalis;  cui  praemittitur, 
atque  opponitur,  turn  S.  Scripturae,  turn  veterum  patrum,  et  refor- 
matarum  ecclesiarum  doctrina  Catholica,  de  sacris  symbolis,  et 
prsesentia  Christi  in  Sacramento  Eucharistise.'  i.e.  The  History  of 
Popish  Transubstantiation,  &c.,  written  by  the  author  at  Paris, 
for  the  use  of  some  of  his  countrymen,  who  were  frequently  at- 
tacked upon  that  point  by  the  papists.  It  was  published  by  Dr. 
Durell,  at  London,  1675,  8vo.,  and  translated  into  English  in 
1676,  by  Luke  de  Beaulieu,  8vo.  ^  There  is  a  second  part  still 
in  manuscript "". 

V.  '  The  differences  in  the  chief  points  of  religion,  between  the 
Roman  Catholics  and  us  of  the  Church  of  England ;  together  with 
the  agreements  which  we,  for  our  parts,  profess,  and  are  ready  to 
embrace,  if  they,  for  theirs,  were  as  ready  to  accord  with  us  in 
the  same.     Written  to  the  Countess  of  Peterborough  •.' 

VL  'Notes  on  the  Book  of  Common-Prayer.'  Published  by 
Dr.  William  Nicholls,  at  the  end  of  his  Comment  on  the  Book  of 
Common-Prayer,  Lond.  1710,  fol. 

VIL  '  Account  of  a  Conference  in  Paris,  between  Cyril,  Arch- 
bishop of  Trapezond,  and  Dr.  John  Cosin.'  Printed  in  the  same 
book. 

The .  following  pieces  were  also  written  by  Bishop  Cosin,  but 
never  printed. 

1 .  *  An  Answer  to  a  popish  pamphlet,  pretending  that  St.  Cyprian 
was  a  papist.' 

2.  '  An  Answer  to  four  queries  of  a  Roman  Catholic,  about  the 
Protestant  religion.' 

3.  '  An  Answer  to  a  paper  delivered  by  a  popish  Bishop  to  the 
Lord  Inchiquin.' 

4.  '  Annales  Ecclesiastici,'  imperfect. 

5.  *An  Answer  to  Father  Robinson's  papers,  concerning  the 
validity  of  the  Ordinations  of  the  Church  of  England.'  See  above, 
note  [F.] 

6.  '  Historia  Conciliorum,'  imperfect. 

•  Printed  at  the  end  of  Dr.  Smith's  ■"  Basire,  p.  67. 

Life  of  Bishop  Cosin.  "  Printed  at   the   end   of  the  Cor- 

P  Smith,  p.  15.  ruptions  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  by 

1  Ibid.,  p.  16,  17.  Bishop  Bull. 


XXXVl  APPENDIX. 

7.  '  Against  the  forsakers  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  their 
seducers  in  this  time  of  her  trial.' 

8.  '  Chronologia  Sacra,'  imperfect. 

9.  '  A  Treatise  concerning  the  abuse  of  Auricular  Confession  in 
the  Church  of  Rome*.' 

By  all  which  learned  works,  as  one  observes  ^,  and  his  abilities, 
quick  apprehension,  solid  judgment,  variety  of  reading,  &c.,  mani- 
fested therein,  he  hath  perpetuated  his  name  to  posterity,  and 
sufficiently  confuted,  at  the  same  time,  the  calumnies  industriously 
spread  against  him,  of  his  being  a  papist,  or  popishly  inclined  ^ ; 
which  brought  on  him  a  severe  persecution,  followed  with  the 
plunder  of  all  his  goods,  the  sequestration  of  his  whole  estate,  and 
a  seventeen  years'  exile. 

*  Basire,  p.  67,  68.  erubescant    jam    schisniaticorum   filii 
"  Fuller's   Worthies,   in    Durham,      de    parentum     avorumque     convitiis, 

p.  294.  mendaciis,  et  calumniis,  in  Cosinum; 

*  Therefore,  as  Dr.  Smith  observes,      p.  1 8. 


THE  DEAD  MAN'S  REAL  SPEECH. 

A  FUNERAL  SERMON, 

PEBACHED   ON    BRB.    XI.  4. 

UPON  THE  TWENTY-NINTH  DAY  OP  APRIL,  1672, 

AT  THK    FVMEKAL  OF   THE    RIGHT    REVEBEND    PATHKR    IN   GOD 

JOHN, 

LATE    LOED    BISHOP    AND    COUNT    PALATINE    OF    DUEHAM, 

BY   ISAAC    BASIRE,  D.D., 

CHAPLAIN    IN    OBDINABT    TO    HIS    MAJESTY, 
AND   ARCHDEACON   OP   NORTHUMBERLAND. 


THE  DEAD  MAN'S  KEAL  SPEECH. 


Hebrews  xi.  4. 

By  it,  he,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh. 

'  Know  you  not  that  a  great  man  is  fallen  in  Israel  ?*  this  2  Sam.  3. 
was  Dayid's  noble  epitaph  over  Abner,  though  his  rebel; 
and  how  much  more  may  this  be  our  just  preface  to  this 
solemn  funeral,  to  be  sure,  over  a  better  man  than  was 
Abner?  Therefore  in  king  David^s  words  I  may  truly 
say  again,  '  Know  you  not  that  a  great  man  is  now  fallen 
in  our  Israel?'  a  great  man  indeed,  as  shall  appear  before 
we  take  our  final  leave  of  him.  We  may  be  sure  greater 
than  Abner,  not  only  in  his  state,  but,  which  is  the  crown 
of  all  true  greatness,  in  his  graces  and  beneficence;  in 
this  indeed  and  in  truth,  greater  than  Abner.  Yet  Abner 
was  a  great  man,  for  he  was  a  general  in  the  field;  but 
on  the  wrong  side,  the  rebels*  side.  Our  great  man 
a  general  not  only  in  the  field  ^,  but,  which  is  much 
more,  a  general  in  this  Church,  I  mean,  his  diocese  (a  great 
one);  and  in  both  these  great  capacities,  constantly  loyal, 
ad  exemplum.  And  yet  as  high  as  this  great  man  was  so 
lately,  behold  how  low  he  is  laid  down  now,  who  yet  must 
be  laid  down  lower,  as  you  shall  see  by  and  by.  Such 
spectacles  of  mortality  ought  to  be  to  us  survivors  tot  spe- 
cula, so  many  true  looking-glasses,  wherein  whatever  our 
artificial  looking  -  glasses  may  flatter  us,  with  what  our 
living  faces  seem  to  be  now,  this  natural  looking-glass  tells 
us  plainly  to  our  faces,  what  all  our  dead  faces  shall  be, 
must  be,  then ;  God  knows  how  soon.     '  He  being  dead  yet 

'  The   Lord   Bishop  of  Durham  is  commission    cumulativi,    and    so   still 

lieutenant-general   of  this   county,  as  under  the    king,    who    is    always   the 

ab  antiquo  ex  officio,  so  ex  abundanti  sovereign  of  all  estates  in  his  realms. 
per  mandatum,  by  the  king's  gracious 

d2 


Xl  THE    DEAD    MAn's    REAL    SPEECH. 

speaketh'  out  mortality  to  us  all ;  so  many  funerals,  so 
many  warning-pieces  to  us  all  to  prepare  for  our  last  and 

Eccles.  7.  greatest  issue.  This,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Wise  Man, 
is  the  best  use  we  can  make  of  our  access  to  the  house 
of  mourning,  such  as  this  house  is  at  present;  therefore 
the  living  should  lay  it  to  his  heart;  which  that  we  may 
all  do,  let  us  pray  with  the  spirit,  and  in  the  words  of  king 

Ps.  90. 12.  David,  '  O  teach  us  to  number  our  days  that  we  may  apply 
our  hearts  unto  wisdom,' 

Can,  65.  Ye    shall    further    pray    for    Christ's    Holy   Catholic 

Church,  &c, 

Hebrews  xi.  4. 

The  scope  of  this  text,  which  must  be  the  aim  of  the 
sermon,  is  this,  to  stir  up  all  the  faithful  living  to  imi- 
tate the  faithful  that  are  dead ;  whereof  this  chapter  is  the 
sacred  roll  upon  the  divine  records,  down  from  Abel  unto 
the  patriarchs,  the  judges,  the  kings,  the  prophets,  &c. ;  that 
Heb.  6. 12.  is,  that  we  should  endeavour  to  become  the  followers  of  them 
who  through  faith  and  patience  inherit  the  promises. 

The  text  is  short,  but  the  lesson  is  long ;  that  is,  to  live 
so  now,  as  we  may  die  well  at  last,  and  by  our  good  works 
speak  when  we  are  dead. 

The  parts  are  two,  which  do  express  two  states  of  man. 

I.  The  state  of  death,  '  he  being  dead,'  which  is  the  pri- 
vation of  the  life  of  nature  common  to  all  men;  on  which 
frail  life  most  men  doat  so  much,  because  they  have  no  care 
for,  nor  hope  of  a  better  life. 

II.  The  state  of  a  life  after  death ;  that  is,  the  life  of 
glory,  implied  in  these  words,  *  he  speaketh ;'  for  speech 
is  the  evidence  of  a  living  man ;  ergo,  Abel,  though  dead 
in  the  body,  yet  is  still  alive  in  the  spirit. 

The  first  is  a  corrosive  to  the  state  of  nature ;  but  the 
second  comes  in  as  a  cordial  to  all  those  who  are  in  the 
state  of  grace. 
Ex.  14.  20.  This  text  appears  much  like  the  Israelites'  guide  in  the 
Heb,  12. 1.  -wilderness;  it  was  a  cloud,  and  that  no  ordinary  cloud,  but 
such  a  cloud  as  was  dark  on  the  one  side,  and  light  on  the 
other  side ;  dark  towards  the  Egyptians,  but  light  towards 
the  Israelites.     Even  so  is  death  dark  and  sad  to  the  un- 


A    FUNERAL    SERMON.  xH 

believers  and  impenitent,  but  lightsome  and  welcome  to  all 
true  penitents  and  believers. 

1.  To  begin  with  the  first,  the  state  of  death,  Man  in 
the  state  of  innocency  was  created  capable  of  three  lives ; 
the  life  corporal,  life  spiritual,  and  life  eternal. 

The  first  is  the  life  of  nature  ;  a  transitory  life. 

The  second  is  the  life  of  grace ;  a  life  permanent,  but  upon 
condition  of  perseverance  in  an  uniform  obedience  to  God. 

The  third  is  life  eternal ;  the  life  of  glory ;  the  life  of  the  Eph.  4. 18. 
saints  triumphant ;  of  the  elect  Angels ;  yea,  the  life  of  God 
Himself,  and  therefore  a  life  immutable,  interminable. 

2.  Two  of  these  three  lives,  the  life  natural  and  spiritual, 
man  had  then  in  present  possession ;  and  the  third  in  a  sure 
reversion  after  the  expiration  of  but  one  life,  and  that  a  short 
one  too,  but  a  span  long ;  this  present  life  is  no  more,  by 

king  David's  just  measure;    'Behold,  thou  hast  made  myPs. 39.  5. 
days  as  it  were  a  span  long,*  in  comparison  of  eternity. 

3.  Man,  by  his  apostasy  from  God,  through  the  first-  ori- 
ginal sin  of  wilful  incogitancy,  and  through  pride,  did  soon 
deprive  himself  of  all  these  three  lives  at  once ;  and  so  ac- 
cording to  the  just  sentence  of  God,  pronounced  upon  man 
aforehand  for  a  fair  warning,  morte  morieris,  '  Thou  shalt  die  Gen.  2. 17. 
the  death,'  man  was  justly  precipitated  from  that  high  state 

of  innocence  and  felicity  into  the  base  and  damnable  state  of 
sin  and  misery;  whereby  every  man,  none  excepted,  but  the 
God  and  man,  Christ  Jesus,  is  now  by  original  sin  become 
subject  to  a  threefold  death ;  first  corporal,  secondly  spiritual, 
and  thirdly,  without  repentance,  eternal. 

The  first  is  death  corporal ;  which  is  a  total,  but  not  final, 
separation  of  the  soul  from  the  body ;  the  sad  real  text  be- 
fore our  eyes. 

The  second  is  death  spiritual ;  a  far  worse  kind  of  death, 
a  state  of  sin,  which  is  a  separation  of  the  soul  from  the  Ps.  30.  5. 
grace  and  favour  of  God,  which  is  life  itself,  without  which 
we  are  all  by  nature  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  children  of  Eph.  2.1. 
wrath ;  no  better. 

The  third  and  worst  of  all  is  death  eternal ;  and  therefore 
called  in  Holy  Scripture  the  great  death,  the  second  death ;  Rev.  20.  6. 
becauge  it  is  a  final,  total,  and  eternal  separation  of  both  soul 
and  body  from  the  glorious  presence,  beatifical  vision,  and 


Xlii  THE    DEAD    MAN's    REAL   SPEECH. 

admirable  and  unspeakable  fruition  of  God  Himself;  Whom 
as  to  serve  here  on  earth  is  the  life  of  grace,  so  to  enjoy  in 
heaven  is  the  life  of  glory,  which  is  life  everlasting. 

4.  The  first  of  these  three,  death  temporal,  none  of  us  can 
avoid,  die  we  must,  die  we  shall ;  God  prepare  us  all  for  it ! 
But  as  the  thing,  death,  is  certain  for  the  matter ;  so  for  the 
manner,  how  we  shall  die,  in  or  out  of  our  wits,  as  in  fren- 
zies, &c. ;  where  we  shall  die,  amongst  friends  or  amongst 
foes;  when  we  shall  die,  whether  in  youth  or  in  old  age; 
which  way  we  shall  die,  whether  by  a  sudden,  violent,  or 
painful  death,  which  God  in  mercy  arrest  from  us  all,  none 
of  us  all  knows ;  and  therefore  our  best  course  is,  while  we 
may,  by  a  lively  faith,  timely  repentance,  and  real  amend- 
ment of  life,  to  prepare  for  death  ^  ;  and  then,  come  death  in 
what  shape  it  will  and  welcome,  we  shall  not  die  unprepared. 
Yet  it  concerns  us  all  frequently  and  seriously  to  think  of 
these  great  quatuor  novissima ;  death,  judgment,  heaven,  and 

Dent.  32.  hell.  It  is  Moses's  passionate  wish,  '  O  that  they  were  wise, 
that  they  understood  this,  that  they  would  consider  their 
latter  end ;'  since  it  is  appointed  for  all  men  once  to  die,  and 

Heb.  9. 27.  after  that  comes  judgment.  The  vulgar  translation  renders 
it  statutum  est;  death  is  an  universal  statute -law  to  all 
mankind,  and  so  it  is  both  for  authority  of  co-action  and 
certainty  of  execution ;  for  it  is  grounded  upon  two  of  the 
greatest  attributes  of  God,  which  are. 

First,  God's  infallible  truth;  for  the  commination  was 
directed  unto  man,  and  that  also  in  mercy,  to  forewarn 
him  that  he  might  not  sin. 

Secondly,  God's  exact  justice,  which  requires  the  execution 
of  the  divine  sentence  to  be  done  upon  the  same  nature  that 
had  sinned.  Man  did  sin,  therefore  man  must  suffer,  that 
is,  man  must  die ;  and  because  the  first  man,  Adam,  was  the 
original  root  and  general  representative  of  all  mankind, 
Adam's  offspring,  therefore  all  men  must  die,  (pray  God  we 
all  may  die  well,)  or  if  they  live  to  the  end  of  the  world,  yet 

1  Cor.  15.  they  must  suffer  a  change  at  the  least,  at  the  last,  which 
change,  whatever  it  be,  (for  it  is  a  mystery,)  will  be  equivalent 

•>  S.  Aug.  de  Discipl.  cap.  2.  [cap.      vixerit.    Audeo  dicere,  non  potest  male 
xii.  0pp.,  torn.  vi.  col.  436,  edit.  Bene-      mori,  qui  bene  vixerit. 
diet.]     Non  potest  male  mori,  qui  bene 


A    FUNERAL   SERMON.  xlui 

to  a  death ;   so  that  there  lies  an   universal   necessity  to 
undergo  a  death,  some  kind  of  death. 

In  the  ancient  register  of  the  Macrobii,  those  long-lived 
patriarchs,  Adam  lived  nine  hundred  and  thirty  years,  and  Gen.  6. 5. 
he  died ;  Methuselah,  the  longest  liver  of  all  mankind,  lived 
nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years,  and  he  died,  &c. ;  that 
is  the  burthen-song  of  them  all ;    neither  Methuselah  the 
ancientest,    nor  Sampson  the  strongest,  nor   Solomon   the 
wisest  of  men  could  exempt  themselves  from  the  fatal  ne- 
cessity of  death.     Seneca''  himself,  though  but  a  heathen 
philosopher,  being  ignorant  of  the  original  cause  of  death, 
yet  observing  the  generality  of  the  event  of  death,  drew  his 
topic  of  consolation  to  his  friend  Polybius,  sad  for  the  death 
of  his  brother,  from  this  necessity  of  death.     But  God  be 
thanked,  we  Christians   have    better  topics  of  comfort  for 
the  death  of  our  Christian  friends  past,  or  our  own  death 
a-comiug,  by  opposing,  through  faith,  against  the  terror  of 
our  dissolution  by  death,  the  consideration  of  our  admir- 
able and  comfortable  conjunction  with  Christ  our  head  after 
death.     This  glorious  state  is  by  St.  Paul  styled  'the  mani-  Rom. 8. 19. 
festation  of  the  sons  of  God,'  for  which  by  a  natural  instinct 
the  whole  creation  groaneth  with  an  earnest  expectation  of  the 
accomplishment.     The  word  in  the  original  is  very  signi- 
ficant, airoKapaZoKia,  which  betokens  the  looking  for  some  [See 
person  or  thing  with  lifting  up  of  the  head,  or  stretching  ner.] 
out  their  necks  with  earnest  intention  and  observation  to  see 
when  the  person  or  thing  looked  for  shall  appear ;  as  a  poor 
prisoner  condemned  looks  out  at  the  grates  for  a  gracious 
pardon.    And  if  the  creatures  inanimate,  &c.,  do  so  earnestly 
pant  for  the  final  redemption  of  the  sons  of  God,  how  much 
more   we,  being  the   parties   principally  concerned?     This 
made  St.  Paul,  as  it  were  with  the  hoised  up  sails  of  hope 
and  desire,  the  aflFections  of  his  soul,  to  long  to  be  dissolved  Phil.  i.  23. 
and  to  be  with  Christ.     The  original  imports  to  loosen,  or  ^vaXvaoA. 
to  launch  forth,  as  a  ship  from  a  foreign  port  for  a  happy  schieus- 
voyage  towards  her  wished-for  haven  at  home.  ^®^-J 

5.  I  have  so  much  Christian   charity  for  the  surviving 

■=  [Maximum  ergo  solatium  est,  co-  L.  A.  Senecae  lib.  de  consolatione  ad 
gitare  id  sibi  accidisse  quod  ante  se  Polybium,  inter  0pp.,  p.  692.  edit.  Par. 
passi   sunt  omnes,  omnesque  passuri.      1619.] 


xliv  THE    DEAD    MAn's    REAL    SPEECH. 

noble  relations  of  the  great  man  deceased,  as  to  believe  that 
if  they  could  with  their  wishes  and  tears  waft  him  over  back 
from  heaven  to  labour  again  on  earth,  they  would  not  do  it, 
if  they  loved  him  indeed,  and  not  rather  themselves.  It  is 
an  excellent  observation  of  Isidore*^  Pelusiota — he  lived  above 
twelve  hundred  years  ago — who  commenting  on  these  words 
of  our  Saviour's  compassion  for  Lazarus  expressed  by  His 
tears,  that  it  was  not  at  the  death  of  Lazarus,  but  that  it  was 

Job.  11. 35.  at  his  resurrection  that  *  Jesus  wept,'  a  real  demonstration  of 
His  humanity,  both  natural  and  moral.  This  Father's  note 
upon  that  difference  is  this,  that  our  Saviour  Christ's  love 
towards  Lazarus  was  a  rational  love,  yea  a  divine  love,  not 
as  ours  towards  our  dead  friends  too  oft,  too  carnal  or 
natural,  or  at  the  best  a  human  love,  if  not  a  self-love ;  we 
wish  them  alive  for  our  own  ends.  True  it  is,  that  it  is  very 
lawful,  and  also  very  fit,  to  pay  our  deceased  friends  their 
due  tribute  of  grief,  and  to  let  nature  have  her  course,  lest 

Rom.i. 31.  we  should  seem  or  appear  without  natural  affection;    but 

ffropyoi     provided  always  that  the  current  of  nature  do  not  overflow 

the  banks  of  reason,  much  more  the  banks  of  religion  settled 

by  St.  Paul,  who  would  not  have  Christians  to  be  sorry  for 

1  Thes.  4.  their  deceased   friends,   as  others  who  have  no  hope ;   for 

13  •  •  .  . 

there  is  a  lively  hope  of  a  joyful  meeting  again  in  the  state 
of  glory,  if  we  in  the  state  of  grace  do  follow  the  saints 
deceased.  Upon  this  consideration  is  worth  the  observing 
the  different  manner  of  mourning  of  Joseph  for  his  father 
Gen.  50.     Jacob,  his  dear  and  near  relation,  for  Joseph  mourned  seven 

3  10  .  . 

'     ■  days  only  ;  and  of  the  Egyptians  mourning  seventy  days  for 

the  same  Jacob,  a  stranger  to  them.  The  feason  of  the 
difference  is,  because  the  Egyptians  were  unbelievers ;  but 
Joseph  was  a  believer  of  the  resurrection,  and  of  a  glorious 
meeting  once  again  with  his  deceased  father,  from  thence- 
forth never  to  be  separated.  This  posy  of  sacred  medita- 
tions I  do  now  present  to  the  noble  relations  of  the  de- 
ceased ;  desiring  them  to  accept  this  offer,  and  to  use  it  as 
a  spiritual  handkerchief  to  wipe  off,  if  not  drain,  the  spring 
of  tears  for  this  their  deceased  support. 

6.  Meanwhile  our  main  care  must  be  not  to  forfeit  that 

^  [Isid.  Pelus.  Ep.  Theodosio  pres-      6  Kipios.      Lib.  iii.  ep.  173.    p.  207. 
bytero,   Sia  rl   iwl    A.a^dpq)  iSdKpvaei>      edit.  fol.  Par.  1638.] 


A   FUNERAL    SERMON.  xlv 

glorious  meeting  by  a  course  of  life  contrary  to  the  good 
example  of  the  saints  departed;  but  instantly  to  resolve 
earnestly  to  study,  constantly  to  endeavour,  to  live  well,  that 
is  to  say,  to  make  the  will  of  God  the  rule  of  our  life,  and 
the  honour  of  God  the  end  of  our  life  :  this  is  to  live  unto  Rom.  14. 

7  8 

the  Lord,  that  is,  in  subjection  unto  Him ;  and  then  we  may   ' 
be  sure  to  die  in  the  Lord,  that  is,  under  His  protection, 
both  of  body  and  soul,  for  evermore. 

7.  You  may  be  pleased  to  remember  that  our  text  was 
two-faced,  and  therefore  we  compared  it  to  the  Israelites' 
guide  through  the  wilderness,  a  cloud ;  we  are  now  past 
the  dark  side  of  it,  death,  '  he  being  dead.'  We  must  now 
face  about  and  cheerfully  behold  the  bright  side  of  the  cloud, 
wherein  the  dead  speaketh,  and  here  we  have 

1.  The  speaker,  '  he.' 

2.  The  speech  implied,  *  he  speaketh.' 

3.  The  time  expressed,  *  yet ;'  that  is,  after  death  : 
*  He  being  dead,  yet  speaketh.' 

8.  First,  the  speaker  is  Abel,  whose  name  bears  mankind's  bin 
universal   motto  in   the  holy  tongue,  that  is,  vanity ;   for  vaniWl 
when  all  is  done,  '  vanitv  of  vanities,  all  is  vanity,'  until  the  S^''}-  \\\ 

'  '  '  •"  Eccl.  12. 7. 

spirit  of  man  *  return  to  God  Who  gave  it ;'  till  then,  what-  Pa.  39. 5. 
ever  pride  may  prompt  vain  man,  verily  every  man  living  in 
his  best  estate,  is  altogether  vanity.     Selah  ! 

Secondly,  for  his  trade,  he  was  a  herdsman,  for  he  offered 
to  God  the  best  of  his  flock,  in  due  homage  and  as  a  figure 
of  that  Lamb  of  God  Which  was  to  come  to  '  take  away  the  Job.  l.  29. 
sins  of  the  world.'  No  doubt  he  was  well  instructed  by  his 
parents,  Adam  and  Eve,  of  whose  conversion  and  salvation  to 
doubt,  (since  the  promise  of  the  Blessed  Seed  preached  unto  Gen.  3. 15. 
them  by  Almighty  God  Himself  after  their  fall,  and  which 
we  must  in  reason  suppose  was  apprehended  and  applied  by 
them  to  themselves  through  faith,  lest  God's  preaching  should 
prove  vain  :  such  a  suspicion  or  doubt  of  their  eternal  state) 
were  in  us,  their  posterity,  an  odious  want  of  charity,  and 
against  the  current  of  the  ancient  Fathers  ®,  who  give  for  it 
this  probable  reason,  that  God  did  expressly  curse  the  ser- 
pent and  the  earth,  but  God  did  not  at  all  curse  either  Adam 

*  Iren.  Epiph.  Chrysost.  Augustin.  &c.     [See  Perer.  in  Genes.,  cap.  v.  lib.  vii. 
§  112.  edit.  fol.  Colon.  1622.] 


xlvi  THE    DEAD    MAn's    REAL   SPEECH. 

or  Eve;  but  contrariwise,  God  in  mercy  did  bestow  upon 
Adam  and  Eve  the  original  and  fundamental  blessing  of  the 
Promised  Seed,  the  Messiah,  which  is  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord 
and  Saviour,  in  Whom  all  Adam  and  Eve's  posterity  should 
be  blessed.  And  therefore  they  are  not  to  be  concluded 
within  the  number  of  the  damned  crew,  upon  whom  shall 
be  pronounced  that  dreadful  final  sentence  of  Ite  maledicti ; 

Mat.  25.  *  Go  ye  cursed.'  As  a  clear  evidence  of  Adam  and  Eve's 
faith,  we  produce  their  works,  namely  the  godly  education 
of  their  children,  Cain  and  Abel,  in  God's  true  religion,  to 
offer  corporal  sacrifices,  &c.,  with  a  spiritual  reference,  and 
therefore  with  faith  in  the  only  expiatory  and  satisfactory 

Gal.  4.  4.  sacrifice  to  be  performed  in  the  fulness  of  time  by  the  person 
of  the  Messiah,  the  second  Adam,  for  the  saving  of  man- 
kind, as  the  first  Adam  was  in  the  damning  of  mankind ; 
both  the  Adams  being  public  representatives  of  all  mankind, 
as  the  first  in  the  fall,  so  the  second  in  the  resurrection. 

9.  This  just  apology  for  our  first  parents,  Adam  and  Eve, 
I  thought  it  my  filial  duty  to  ofi'er  unto  all  mankind,  Adam's 
ofl'spring;  once  for  all  to  stop  the  mouths  of  censorious 
children  unmindful  of  their  original  duty,  and  of  the  rule 

Gen.  9. 22,  parentum  mores  non  sunt  arguendi.     Shem  and  Japhet  were 
blessed   for  turning   away   their   faces   from   their  father's 
*        nakedness ;   but  wicked  Cham  was  for  outfacing  it  cursed 
with  a  grievous  curse  K 

10.  It  is  very  observable,  that  God  had  respect  unto  Abel 
first,  and  then  to  his  sacrifice ;    to  intimate  that  God  first 

ver.  4.  accepts  the  person  and  then  his  service ;  for  Abel  ofi'ered  by 
faith,  but  Cain  without  faith,  for  want  of  which  God  rejected 
the  person  of  Cain,  (though  the  elder  brother,)  and  conse- 
quently his  sacrifice. 

Hence  observe,  that  two  men  may  come  and  worship  God 
with  the  same  kind  of  outward  worship,  and  yet  differ  much 
in  the  inward  manner  and  success  of  their  service  to  God ; 

f  This  curse  sticks  to  this  day  (above  cap.  1.)     A  people  of  all  nations  most 

four  thousand  years)  as  a  foul  brand  inconvertible,  even  to  a  prophet's  pro- 

upon   Cham  in  his  cursed  posterity;  verb  (Jer.  xiii.  23.)  '  Can  the  Ethiopian 

for  the  Egyptians  and  Ethiopians,  or  change    his    skin,'  &c.  1     A  standing 

Blackamoors,  are  the   descendants   of  dreadful  monument,  and  a  thundering 

cursed  Cham  (Lexic.  Geographic  Fer-  warning-piece  to  all  such  young  Chams 

rarii,  ad  vocem  .^thiopiam ;   Sam.  Bo-  as  dare  to  disgrace  their  parents  pri- 

chart,  Geographia  Sacra,  parte  i.  lib.  4.  vately,  or  rebel  against  them  publicly. 


'"a  funeral  sermon.  xlvii 

witness  Cain  and  Abel  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  Pub-  Lu.  18. 
lican  and  the  Pharisee  in  the  New.  For  the  true  religion  is 
chiefly  inward  for  the  substance,  and  not  only  outward  for 
the  circumstance  and  ceremony ;  the  religion  of  too  many, 
I  had  almost  said  of  most  formal  professors  now  a  days ;  an 
artificial  religion,  as  being  moved  chiefly,  if  not  only,  by  out- 
ward respects  and  objects,  without  any  inward  life;  the  want 
of  which  did  make  a  wide  difference  betwixt  Cain,  and  Abel, 
the  speaker  here.  From  whom  to  pass  unto  his  speech,  we 
shall  interpret  it  by  a  threefold  exposition. 

1.  Grammatical. 

2.  Doctrinal. 

3.  Moral. 

11.  As  to  the  grammatical  exposition,  I  am  not  ignorant 
that  the  word  XaXehat,  in  the  original,  may  be  verbum  medium, 
and  so  may  be  translated  either  in  the  passive  sense  *  He  is 
spoken  of,'  as  some  few  interpreters  ^  have  rendered  it,  or  in 
the  active  sense,  to  which  I  am  rather  carried  by  the  clear 
and  strong  current  of  almost  all  interpreters,  and  the  harmony 
of  eight  translations '',  both  ancient  and  modern ;  who  all 
render  it  actively,  *he  speaketh.'  This  translation  is  con- 
firmed by  a  clear  parallel  (Heb.  xii.  24),  where  comparison 
being  made  betwixt  the  precious  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
that  of  Abel,  it  is  expressed  in  the  active  sense  Xakovvri; 
not  in  the  passive,  that  *  the  blood  of  sprinkling  is  better 
spoken  of,'  but  in  the  active,  that  'it  speaketh  better  things 
than  that  of  Abel.'  Ergo,  *  Abel  being  dead,  yet  speaketh,' 
quod  erat  demonstrandum.  Enough  of  the  grammatical 
exposition. 

12.  We  pass  now  to  the  doctrinal  exposition.  The  doc- 
trine is  this,  that  for  the  godly  there  is  a  life  after  this  life ; 
for  '  Abel  being  dead  yet  speaketh.'  But  we  know  that  dead 
men  are  speechless,  and  that  speech  is  both  a  sign  and  an 
action  of  life.  Abel  is  not  absolutely  dead ;  though  dead  in 
part,  he  still  lives.  We  enlarge  the  instance  from  righteous 
Abel  unto  all  the  faithful ;  the  total  sum  is  this,  that  though 


K  [See  Lud.  de  Dieu  Animadv.  in  Clem.  Alex.   Chrysost.  Vatablus,  Ze- 

Epistolas,  p.  321.  edit.  1G46.]  gerus,  Grotius,  Tena.     [See  Estius  in 

*"  Syriac,  Vulgar,  Ethiopic,  Arabic,  ■  Epistolas,   ad  loc.    et  Calovius,   Bibl. 

French,    English,   German,    Italian;  Illustr.  N.  T.,  torn.  ii.  p.  1352.] 


Xlviii  THE    DEAD    MAn's    REAL    SPEECH. 

good  men  die,  yet  their  good  deeds  die  not ;  but  they  survive, 
and  that  in  both  worlds. 

Prov.  31.  First,  in  this  world,  to  their  due  praise,  for  'their  own 
good  works  praise  them  in  the  gates.' 

Secondly,  they  live  in  the  next  world  by  their  reward  and 

Eev.  14.  coronation,  for  their  '  works  do  follow  them.^  So  many  good 
works,  so  many  living  tongues  of  good  men  after  death; 

Lu.  20.  36.  who  are  therefore  styled  in  the  Holy  Gospel  '  the  children 
of  the  resurrection.'  And  again,  Abel  still  lives  unto  men 
in  the  memory  of  all  good  men,  for  to  such  the  memory  of 

Prov.  10. 7.  the  just  shall  be  blessed,  and  the  memory  of  their  virtues 
calls  for  both  our  commemoration  and  imitation  of  them; 
which  leads  me  to  the  third  point  propounded,  which  was 
the  moral  exposition. 

13.  For  I  suppose  none  that  hear  this  are  so  gross  of 
understanding  as  to  imagine  a  vocal  speech  of  the  dead, 
which  would  be  a  miracle ;  but  a  speech  analogical,  by  such 

Ps.  19. 1.  a  figure  as  the  heavens  speak  when  they  declare  the  glory  of 
God.  The  parallel  of  St.  Chrysostom  upon  the  speech  of 
Abel,  our  speaker  in  the  text,  the  Father  after  his  wonted 
rhetoric  amplifies  it  thus ;  '  If  Abel  had  a  thousand  voices 
when  he  was  alive,  he  hath  many  more  now  he  is  dead,' 
speaking  to  our  admiration  and  imitation.  But  though  the 
dead  man's  speech  be  no  vocal  speech,  yet  it  is  and  will  be 
a  real  speech  for  our  conversion  or  condemnation  to  the  end 
of  the  world  ;  for  Abel  being  dead,  yet  speaketh. 

First,  he  speaketh  by  his  repentance  implied  in  his  sa- 
crifice, not  only  for  homage  due  by  all  rational  creatures, 
whether  Angels  or  men,  unto  God  their  creator;  but  also  as 
a  tacit  confession  of  sin  to  be  expiated  by  the  all-sufiicient 
sacrifice  of  the  promised  Blessed  Seed,  the  Messiah  to 
come.  And  so  Abel  '  being  dead,  yet  speaketh,'  and  was 
by  his  typical  sacrifice  the  first  prophet  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. The  good  examples  of  holy  men  are  standing  real 
sermons ;  for  there  are  two  ways  of  preaching ;  by  word, 
or  deed.  The  first  is  good,  the  latter  is  better;  but  both 
are  best. 

Secondly,  Abel  'being  dead  yet  speaketh'  by  his  faith 
expressed  here  in  the  text;  which  faith  is  a  never-dying 
preacher  to  all  ages  of  the  Church,  because  it  assureth  all 


A    FUNERAL   SERMON.  xlix 

the  faithful,  such  as  was  Abel,  of  both  God's  regard,  aud 

reward  of  all  His  true  servants  who  follow  Abel's  faith.  Heb.  li.  6. 

Thirdly,  Abel  'being  dead  yet  speaketh'  by  his  works  of  Jas. 2. 18. 
righteousness,  the  necessary  and  best  evidences  of  a  lively 
faith,  for  which  Abel  stands  canonized  by  God's  own  appro-  Heb.  ii.  4. 
bation  and  acceptance.     First,  of  his  person,  that  he  was 
righteous ;  and  then  of  his  performance,  his  sacrifice.    There- 
fore Abel  is  enrolled  with  Enoch,  (verse  5,)  for  his  communion 
of  faith,  godliness,  and  happiness ;  by  which  both  Enoch  and 
Abel  pleased  God.     The  Jewish  Rabbins'  and  sundry  Chris- 
tian  interpreters  offer   as   a   tradition    this   sign    of  God's 
acceptance  of  the  sacrifice  of  Abel,  to  wit,  by  sending  fire 
from  heaven,  (as  upon  Aaron's,  and  upon  Solomon's,  and  Lev.  9. 24. 
upon  Elijah's  sacrifice,)  which  kindled  the  sacrifice  of  Abel  ^  Chron. 
the  younger  brother,  and  not  that  of  Cain  who  was  the  elder  i  Kings 
brother.     Some  interpreters''  think  that  this  acceptation  of 
Abel's   sacrifice   was   a   designation   of  Abel,   the   younger 
brother,  to  the  priesthood  before  Cain,  the  elder  brother; 
and  that  these  were  the  occasion  of  Cain's  envy,  aud  his 
envy  the  cause  of  Abel's  murder.     By  the  way  it  is  worthy 
our  observation  that  all  that  come  to  worship  God  are  either 
Abels  or  Cains ;   that  is,  they  come  with  faith,  or  without 
faith,  and  they  speed  accordingly. 

Fourthly  and  lastly,  Abel  'being  dead  yet  speaketh;'  as 
in  his  life  by  his  actions,  so  at  his  death  by  his  patience  and 
passion;  fortis  St. Stephen  was  the  proto-martyr  of  the  New 
Testament,  so  was  Abel  the  proto-martyr  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment ;  for  he  died  for  righteousness'  sake.  Hence  some 
interpreters  derive  his  name  from  b^M,  which  in  the  holy 
tongue  signifies  'to  mourn;'  because  he  was  the  first  man 
that  did  taste  of  death,  for  which  and  for  whom  his  (and  our 
first)  parents,  Adam  aud  Eve,  did  begin  to  mourn. 

As  it  is  certain  that  sin  (though  but  a  beast)  hath  a  voice, 
and  (which  is  more  strange  in  a  beast)  sin  hath  an  articulate 
voice,  and  by  a  counter-passion,  which  is  lex  talionis,  sin  doth 
not  only  indite  the  sinner,  but  also  indorseth  upon  the 
sinner's  bill  the  parallel  punishment  for  time  or  place,  person 
or  action,  so  that  many  times  the  punishment  becomes  the 
anagram  of  the  sin.     This  even  natural   men  do   confess, 

'  Theodot.  Theophyl.,  et  alii.  ^  Cornel,  [k  Lapide  in  loc]  Bertram. 


1  THE    DEAD    MAN's    REAL    SPEECH, 

Judg.  1.  7.  witness  Adonibezeck,  'As  I  have  done,  so  God  hath  re- 
2  Sam,  12,  quited  me.'     Which  was  also  king  David's  case,  blood  for 
blood ;    such  was  the  voice  of  sin  and  of  their  own  con- 
sciences.    Sin  hath  a  voice  indeed,  and  that  a  loud  voice, 
for  it  reacheth  as  high  as  heaven  to  God's  ear,  and  from 
thence  rebounds  with  an  echo  upon  a  man's  own  conscience. 
Gen,  18.      We  read  of  the  cry  of  Sodom,  and  of  the  cry  of  the  hire- 
Jas. 5.  4.     ling's  wages,  kept  from  Him;    and  here  Abel's  blood  hath 
a  voice  that  cries  aloud  for  justice  in  God's  ears ;  and  as  it 
were,  prefers  a  bill  of  indictment.     Upon  which  God,  the 
just  judge,  immediately  arraigneth  Cain,  passeth  judgment, 
and  doth  execution  upon  Cain  the  fratricide ;  stamping  a  curse 
Gen.  4. 10,  both  upon  his  person  and  estate,  saying  *What  hast  thou 
done  ?   the  voice  of  thy  brother's  blood  cries  unto  Me  from 
the  ground,  and  now  art  thou  cursed  from  the  earth  which 
hath  opened  her  mouth  to  receive  thy  brother's  blood  from 
thine  hand.     When   thou    tillest  the  ground   it   shall   not 
henceforth  yield  unto  thee  her  strength.     A  fugitive  and 
a  vagabond  shalt  thou  be  in  the  earth.' 

Now  as  sin  hath  a  voice,  so  grace  hath  a  voice  also,  calling 

upon  us,  as  for  our  imitation  of  the  virtues  of  the  saints 

departed,  so  calling  upon  God  for  a  gracious  compensation 

Kev.  14,      of  their  works  which  follow  them  after  death,  not  at  all  by 

^^'  way  of  merit,  but  of  God's  free  mercy ;  for  what  proportion 

betwixt  man's  works,  which  are  but  temporary  and  therefore 

finite,  (all  our  best  works  are  no  more,  and  besides  imperfect 

Kom.8. 18.  all,)  and  God's  high  reward,  which  is  infinite  both  for  weight 

and  for  duration  to  all  eternity  ? 

Some  interpreters  add  a  fifth  v\  ay,  by  which  Abel  '  being 
dead  yet  speaketh;'  to  wit,  as  a  type;  by  his  blood  shed  by 
Cain  his  brother  prefiguring  the  blood  of  Christ  shed  by  His 
brethren  the  Jews. 

And  thus  many  ways  Abel '  being  dead  yet  speaketh ;'  and 
so  all  good  men,  though  dead,  speak  by  their  good  works  of 
faith  and  patience.  In  which  blessed  number,  this  dead  man 
before  our  eyes  was  through  God's  grace  listed,  and  so 
speaketh  by  his  good  deeds  to  his  generation,  and  seems  by 
his  example  to  preach  unto  us  all  St. Paul's  apostohcal  admo- 
Gal.  6. 9.  nition,  not  to  be  weary  of  well-doing,  for  in  due  season  we 
shall  reap  (a  reward)  if  we  faint  not :  as  our  Christian  hope 


A    FUNERAL   SERMON.  U 

is,  the  deceased  Prelate  findeth  it  now,  to  his  everlasting 
comfort. 

O  how  gladly  would  I  make  an  end  here,  and  so  come 
down  !  Sorry  I  am  that  I  must  now  pass  and  descend  from 
the  literal  text  to  this  our  real  text  lying  before  us.  But  it 
is  a  rule  of  Christian  practice,  that  when  God  hath  been 
pleased  to  reveal  His  will  by  the  event,  our  humble  resigna- 
tion  of  ourselves  and  friends  and  all,  with  submission  of  our 
will  to  God's  will,  is  our  duty,  and  the  best  remedy  to  allay 
all  our  sorrows,  and  to  say  in  the  words  and  with  the  spirit 
of  holy  Job,  '  The  Lord  hath  given  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  Job  i.  21. 
away,  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord,'  which  is  part  of  our 
office  for  burial.  In  all  this  Job  sinned  not,  no  more  should 
we  if  we  would  be  followers  of  Job's  faith  and  patience ; 
which  God  grant  us  all,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord ;  to 
Whom,  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  ascribed 
from  Angels,  from  us,  and  from  all  men,  praise,  power, 
majesty  and  dominion,  now  and  for  ever.     Amen. 


CONTENTS. 


SERMON  I. 

(Page  1.) 

Preached  at  St.  Edward's  in  Cambridge,  January  the  sixth,  A.D.  mdcxxi.  ; 
and  at  Coton,  on  the  Second  Sunday  after  Epiphany. 

St.  Matthew  ii.  1,  2. 
Now  when  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem  ofJudea,  in  the  days 
of  Herod  the  king,  Behold,  there  came  Wise  Men  from  the 
East  to  Jerusalem, 
Saying,  Where  is  He  That  is  bom  King  of  the  Jews  ?  for  we 
have  seen  His  star  in  the  east,  and  are  come  to  worship 
Him. 

SERMON  II. 

(Page  24.) 
A    FUNERAL   SERMON. 
Preached   at  St.  Martin's  in   the    Fields,   on  the  seventeenth  of  June,   A.D. 
MDCxxiii.  at  the  funeral  of  Mrs.  Dorothy  Holmes,  sister  to  the  Right  Reve- 
rend Father  in  God,  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Durham. 

2  Corinthians  v.  1,  2. 

For  we  know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  be 
dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of  God,  an  house  not  made 
with  hands,  but  eternal  in  the  heavens. 

For  which  we  sigh  and  groan. 

SERMON  III. 

(Page  44.) 

Preached  at  Datchet,  near  Windsor,  on  the  Second  Sunday  after  Epiphany, 
A.D.  MDCxxiv.,  at  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Abraham  De  Laune,  and  Mrs.  Mary 
Wheeler. 

St.  John  ii.  1,  2. 
And  the  third  day  there  was  a  marriage  in  Cana  of  Galilee, 

and  the  Mother  of  Jesus  was  there. 
And  Jesus  was  also   called,  and  His   Disciples,  unto   the 
marriage, 

e 


liy  CONTENTS. 

SERMON  IV. 

(Page  58.) 
Preached  probably  in  1625. 

St.  Matthew  iv.  6. 
If  Thou  he  the  Son  of  God,  cast  Thyself  down  headlong,  for  it 
is  written,  He  shall  give  His  Angels  charge  over  Thee,  and 
with  their  hands  they  shall  bear  Thee  up,  lest  at  any  time 
Thou  dash  Thy  foot  against  a  stone. 

SERMON  V. 

(Page  71.) 
Preached  probably  in  1625. 

St.  Matthew  iv.  6. 
For  it  is  written,  He  shall  give  His  Angels  charge  over  Thee, 
and  with  their  hands  they  shall  bear  Thee  up,  lest  at  any 
time  Thou  dash  Thy  foot  against  a  stone. 

SERMON  VI. 

(Page  85.) 

Preached  on  the  First  Sunday  in  Advent,  December  3,  1626,  at  the  Consecration 

of  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle  in  Durham  House  Chapel,  in  London. 

St.  John  xx.  21,  22. 
Peace  be  unto  you.     As  My  Father  sent  Me,  even  so 

send  I  you. 
And  when  He  had  spoken  these  words.  He  breathed  on  them 

and  said,  Receive  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
Whose  sins  you  do  remit  they  are  remitted,  S^c. 

SERMON  VII. 

(Page  106.) 
Preached  at  Brancepath  on  the  Fifth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  June  27,  1630. 

Psalm  cxxii.  6,  7. 
Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem,  they  shall  prosper  that  love 

thee. 
Peace  be  within    thy   walls  and  plenteousness   within  thy 

palaces. 

SERMON  VIII. 

(Page  115.) 
Preached  at  Durham,  on  the  Feast  of  Pentecost,  May  20,  1632. 

Romans  viii.  14. 
Quicunque  Spiritu  Dei  aguntur,  ii  sunt  filii  Dei. 

For  as  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  those  are  the 
sons  of  God. 


CONTENTS.  Iv 

SERMON  IX. 

(Page  131.) 
Preached  at  Brancepath,  July  8,  1632. 

Exodus  xx.  3. 
Non  habebis  deos  alienos  coram  Me. 

Thou  Shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  My  face,  or,  no  other 
gods  but  Me. 

SERMON  X. 

(Page  143.) 
Preached  at  Brancepath  in  1632, 

Exodus  xx.  3. 
Kon  habebis  deos  alienos  coram  Me. 

Thou  shall  have  no  other  gods  but  Me. 


SERMON  XI. 

(Page  153.) 
Preached  at  Brancepath  in  1633. 

Exodus  xx.  8. 
Memento,  ut  diem  Sabbalhi  sanctifices,  8fC. 

Remember  that  thou  keep  holy  the  Sabbath  day,  six  days  shall 
thou  labour,  8fc. 

SERMON  XII. 

(Page  166.) 
Preached  at  Brancepath  in  1633. 

Exodus  xx.  9,  10. 
Sex  dies  operabis  et  fades  omnia  opera  tua. 
Septimo  autem  die  Sabbatum  Domini  Dei  tui  est ;  non  fades 
omne  opus  in  eo. 

Six  days  shall  thou  labour  and  do  all  that  thou  hast  to  do. 
But  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God;  in  it 
thou  shall  do  no  manner  of  work. 


Ivi  CONTENTS. 

SERMON  XIII. 

(Page  177.) 
Preached  at  Brancepath  in  1633. 

Exodus  xx.  10, 

But  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God;  in  it 
thou  shalt  do  no  manner  of  work,  thou  and  thy  son  and  thy 
daughter,  thy  man-servant  and  thy  maid-servant,  thy  cattle 
and  the  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates,  S^c. 

SERMON  XIV. 

(Page  190.) 
Preached  at  Paris,  September  11,  1650. 

Psalm  cxxix.  5. 
Confundantur  omnes  qui  oderunt  Sion. 

Let  them  be  confounded,  as  many  as  have  evil  will  at  Sion. 
SERMON  XV. 

(Page  206.) 
Preached  at  Paris,  on  Sexagesima  Sunday,  Feb.  12,  1651. 

Genesis  iii.  13. 

Et  dixit  Dominus  Deus  ad  mulierem,  8^c. 

And  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  woman,  What  is  this  that 
thou  hast  done  ?  And  the  woman  said,  The  serpent  beguiled 
me,  [and  I  did  eat  J] 

SERMON  XVI. 

(Page  220.) 
Preached  at  Paris,  March  5,  1651. 

Genesis  iii.  13,  14. 

And  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  woman,  What  is  this  that 
thou  hast  done  ?  And  the  woman  said.  The  serpent  beguiled 
me  and  I  did  eat. 

And  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  serpent,  Because  thou  hast 
done  this,  thou  art  cursed,  8fc. 


CONTENTS,  Ivii 

SERMON  XVII. 

(Page  236.) 
Preached  at  Paris,  on  the  Fifth  Sunday  in  Lent,  March  26,  1  651. 

Genesis  iii.  13. 
And  the  woman  said,  The  serpent  beguiled  me. 

SERMON  XVIII. 

(Page  248.) 

Preached  at  Paris,  on  the  Octave  of  the  Festival  of  the  Resarrection, 

April  16,  1651. 

St.  John  xx.  9. 
Nondum  enim  sciebant  Scripturas,  8fc. 

For  as  yet  they  knew  not  the  Scriptures,  that  He  must  rise 
from  the  dead. 

SERMON  XIX. 

(Page  263.) 

Preached  at  Paris,  on  the  Sunday  after  the  Festival  of  the  Ascension, 

May  21,  1651. 

Acts  i.  9,  10,  11. 
Et  h(EC  locutus,  videntibus  iisdem,  in  altum  sublatus  est,  8fC. 
Et  ecce  !  duo  viri  astiterunt  illis  in  vestibus  albis. 

And  when  lie  had  spoken  these  things,  while  they  beheld,  He 
was  taken  up ;  and  a  cloud  received  Him  out  of  their  sight. 

And  while  they  looked  stedfastly  toward  heaven  as  He  went 
up,  behold  two  men  stood  by  them  in  white  apparel. 

Which  also  said.  Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  looking  up 
into  heaven?  This  same  Jesus,  Who  is  taken  up  from  you 
into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen 
Him  go  into  heaven. 

SERMON  XX. 

(Page  276.) 
Preached  at  Paris,  on  the  Festival  of  our  Saviour's  Nativity,  1651. 

St.  John  i.  9,  10. 
Erat  Hie  liuv  ilia,  et  vera  ilia  lux,  ^c. 

He  was  that  light,  or.  That  light  was  the  true  light,  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world,  and  He  was 
in  the  world. 


Iviii  CONTENTS. 

SERMON  XXI. 

(Page  291.) 

Preached  at  Paris,  on  the  Second  Sunday  after  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord, 
January  5,  1653. 

St.  Matthew  ii.  [1.  and]  2. 

Venerunt  magi  ....  dicentes,  ....  Vidimus  enim  stellam 

Ejus  in  oriente. 
There  came  wise  men  ....  and  said,  ....  For  we  have  seen 

His  star  in  the  east. 


SERMON  XXII. 

(Page  306.) 
Preached  at  Paris,  on  the  Festival  of  the  Nativity  of  Christ,  1665. 

1  Timothy  iii.  16. 
Magnum  est  pietatis  mysterium,  Deus  manifestatus  in  came. 

Great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness,  God  manifest  in  the  flesh. 


APPENDIX  I. 

(Page  325.) 

Preached  at  Durham  House,  on  the  eve  of  the  Epiphany,  Sunday  the  5th  of 
January,  1622-[23.] 

St.  Matthew  ii.  1,  2. 

Now  when  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlem  of  Judea,  in  the  days  of 
Herod  the  king,  Behold  there  came  wise  men  from  the  east 
to  Jerusalem, 

Saying,  Where  is  He  That  is  born  king  of  the  Jews  ?  for 
we  have  seen  His  star  in  the  east,  and  are  come  to  wor- 
ship Him. 


CONTENTS.  lix 

APPENDIX  II. 

(Page  331.) 
FRAGMENT  OF  A  FUNERAL  SERMON. 

APPENDIX  III. 

(Page  337.) 
Preached  at  Brancepath,  on  the  Second  Sunday  after  Trinity. 

St.  Luke  xiv.  16—20. 

A  certain  man  made  a  great  supper,  and  bade  many ; 

And  sent  his  servant  at  supper  time  to  say  to  them  that  were 

bidden,  Come ;  for  all  things  are  now  ready. 
But  they  all  at  once  began  to  make  excuse.     The  first  said, 

I  have  bought  a  farm,  and  I  must  needs  go  see  it ;  I  pray 

thee  have  me  excused. 
Another  said,  I  have  bought  five  yoke  of  oxen,  and  I  go  to  prove 

them ;  I  pray  thee  have  me  excused. 
And  another  said,  I  have  married  a  wife,  and  therefore  I  can- 

not  come,  &^c. 

APPENDIX  IV. 

(Page  339.) 

Psalm  cxxii.  6. 
Rogate  pacem  ... 

Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem,  they  shall  prosper  that  love  it. 


APPENDIX  V. 

(Page  343.) 

St.  Matthew  xiii.  27,  28. 

So  the  servants  of  the  householder  came  and  said  unto  him, 
Sir,  didst  not  thou  sow  good  seed  in  thy  field  ?  From 
whence  then  hath  it  those  tares  f 

He  saith  unto  them.  The  envious  man  hath  done  this. 


Ix 


CONTENTS. 


APPENDIX  VI. 

(Page  348.) 
Preached  at  Paris,  the  Gospel  for  the  Fifth  Sunday  after  the  Epiphany,  1651. 

St,  Matthew  xiii.  24. 
Simile  est  regnum  coelorum  homini  seminanti  in  agro,  ^c. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  sowed  good 

seed  in  his  field  : 
But  while  men  slept,  his  enemy  came  and  sowed  tares  among 

the  wheat,  and  went  his  way. 
But  when  the  blade  was  sprung  up,  and  had  brought  forth 

fruit,  then  appeared  the  tares  also. 
So  the  servants  of  the  householder  came  and  said  unto  him, 

Sir,  didst  not  thou  sow  good  seed  in  thy  field?  from  whence 

then  hath  it  tares  ? 
He  said  unto   them,  The  enemy  hath  done  this.      The  ser- 
vants said  unto  him.  Wilt  thou  then  that  we  go  and  weed 

them  up  ? 
But  he  said.  Nay ;  lest  while  ye  gather  up  the  tares,  ye  root 

up  also  the  wheat  with  them. 
Let  both  grow  together  till  the  harvest:   and  in  the  time  of 

harvest  I  will  say  to  the  reapers,  Gather  ye  first  the  tares, 

and  bind  them  together  in  bundles  to  be  burnt ;  but  gather 

the  wheat  into  my  barn. 

APPENDIX  VII. 

(Page  351.) 
Preached  at  Paris,  on  the  First  Sunday  after  Trinity,  June  11,  1651. 

St.  Matthew  xiii.  24,  25. 
Simile  est  regnum  coelorum  homini  seminanti  in  agro,  ^c. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  sowed  good 

seed  in  his  field. 
But  while  men  slept,  his  enemy  came  and  sowed  tares  among 

the  wheat,  and  went  his  way. 


SERMON  1/ 

PKEACHED   AT   ST,  EDWAKD's   IN    CAMBEIDGE,  JANXTAKY   6tH,   A.D.  MDCXXI., 
AND   AT   COTON,    ON   TUE   SECOND   SUNDAY   AFTER  EPIPUANY. 


St.  Matthew  ii.  1,  2. 

Now  when  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem  of  Judea  in  the  days 
of  Herod  the  King,  Behold,  there  came  Wise  Men  from  the 
East  to  Jerusalem, 

Saying,  Where  is  He  That  is  born  King  of  the  Jews  ?  for 
we  have  seen  His  star  in  the  East,  and  are  come  to  wor- 
ship Him. 

I  CHOSE  my  text  for  the  time,  the  celebration  of  this  day, 
that  we  may  keep  Solomon's  rule,  verbum  diet  in  die  suo ;  Prov.  15. 
and  therefore  before  I  come  to  the  text  I  will  say  a  little 
of  the  day,  this  Epiphany,  this  manifestation  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour. 

We  are  still  at  the  feast  of  Christmas,  and  this  is  the  last 
and  great  day  of  the  feast,  as  St.  John  said  of- another.  Job.  7. 37. 
A  feast  of  joy  it  has  been  all  this  while,  but  this  day  was 
given  us  that  our  joy  might  be  fulP.  They  were  tidings 
of  joy  that  the  Angels  brought,  a  while  since,  to  the  shep- 
herds, Jews,  hard  at  hand ;  but  when  the  glad  tidings  of  the 
Gospel  came  abroad  once  to  all  the  people,  as  this  day  they 
came  so,  then  were  they  no  more  tidings  of  ordinary,  but  of 
great  joy.  *  Behold,  I  bring  you  tidings,'  saith  the  Angel, 
but  not  to  you  alone ;  though  to  you,  yet  to  others  as  well 
as  you,  *  which  shall  be  to  all  people.'  Hitherto,  then,  it  Lu.  2.  lo. 
was  Evangelizo  vobis,  vobis  Judceis,  but  to-day  it  was  omni 
popalo ;  that  now  a  Saviour  was  born  unto  us  all,  Which 
was  Christ  the  Lord.     And  indeed  this  is  our  Christmas- 

»  See  Appendix  No.  1.  "Of  the   High   and   Great   Feast  of 

*  See  Bishop  Overall's  Annotations      Christ's  Epiphany." 


3  Various  Epiphanies  of  our  Saviour. 

SEEM,   day,  that  were  Gentiles;  for  though  Christ  was  born  twelve 

'- days  since  in  Jury^,  yet  He  came  not  abroad  the  world 

»  until  while  ^  now,  and  to  us  He  seemed  as  yet  unborn  (being  but 
like  a  rich  treasure  in  a  man's  field,  at  this  time  not  known 
to  be  so,)  till  He  was  this  day  manifested  unto  us  in  the  per- 
sons of  these  Wise  Men,  the  first  fruits  of  the  Gentiles  °. 

There  were  many  Epiphanies  before  this,  for  it  was  made 
manifest  many  times  before.     To  the  Blessed  Virgin  first, 
for  she  knew  it  nine  months  before,  and  then  to  John  Bap- 
tist, before  he  was  born  himself,  for  he  could  seem  in  the 
Lu.  1. 41.    womb  to  point  at  Him,  when  His  mother  came,  Ecce  Agnus 
°  ■  ■     ■  Dei,  Qui  tollit  peccata  mundi.     And  after  He  was  born,  the 
shepherds  had  tidings  of  the  Lamb  of  God  too.     But  all 
these  were  the  Epiphanies  of  some  few  persons  only,  and 
the  new  Morning  Star  was  seen  but  a  little  way,  as  far  as 
Ps.  97.  4.    Mary's  family,  or  a  field  hard  by,  and  no  further.     Now  to- 
Book^ver-  day  His  lightnings  gave  shine  unto  the  world,  and  at  His 
sion.  Epiphany  not  a  few  persons  at  home,  or  near  at  hand,  but 

the  nations  abroad,  even  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  had  news 
brought  them  of  it  from  heaven ;  and  now  this  day  not  Jury 
Ps.  8. 1.  only,  (that  was  too  straight  for  Him  who  must  have  the  hea- 
then given  Him  for  His  inheritance,)  but  the  whole  world 
was  the  better  for  Christ's  nativity.  A  true  Christmas-day 
this,  and  Christmas  rejoicing  right,  when  all  fare  the  better 
for  it.  Before,  the  heathen  were  about  the  hedges,  shut 
quite  out  of  doors;  but  to-day  the  gates  were  set  open  for 
them,  as  well  as  for  the  Jews.  Which  community  was  well 
figured,  as  the  common  note  is'',  in  the  place  that  Christ 
would  have  His  nativity  happen  in,  even  in  a  common  inn, 
where  every  one  might  come,  the  Gentile  as  welcome  as 
the  Jevv ;  and  because  perhaps  they  would  not  be  together 
Job.  4.  9.  in  one  chamber,  (for  we  read  that  the  Jews  meddle  not  with 
the  Samaritans,  nor  keep  their  company,)  therefore  Christ 
would  be  born  in  the  stable,  where  there  is  no  distinction 
made,  but  all  put  together  in  one  room.  Or  if  an  inn  be 
not  large  enough,  there  is  another  figure  will  hold  all  the 

*  Illi   magi,   quidnam    fuerunt  nisi  catioiiis  gentium  rationabili  gaudio  ce- 

primitiae gentium. — S.August.  Serm.4.  lebremus. — S.Leo,  Bibl.  Patr.  v, ii.  814. 

de  Epiphan.  0pp.  V.  637.     His  divinae  <•  See  Suarez  in  3  part.  S.  Thomse, 

gratise  mysteriis  eruditi,  diem  primi-  q.  xxxv.  art.  7  and  8.  sec.  iii.  §  '  Se- 

tiarum  nostrarum  et  inchoationem  vo-  cundo  dicitur.' 


Reasons  for  rejoicing  at  this  time.  3 

world,  and  that  is  the  time  of  taxing  the  whole  earth,  asLu.  2.  i. 

St.  Luke  says,  just  at  this  time,  wherein  Christ  would  be 

born^  to  tell  us  that  He  came  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  whole 

earth.     For  though  it  was  but  in  a  little  town,  saith   St. 

Leo  %  yet  the  great  world  fared  the  better  for  His  nativity ; 

nay,  it  is  but  a  small  thing,  saith  God  Himself,  in  Isaiah,  to 

raise  the  tribes  of  Jacob,  or  to  restore  the  decays  of  Israel, 

I  will  give  Thee  a  light  to  the  Gentiles,  and  a  salvation  unto  laa.  49.  6. 

the  end  of  the  world.     There  He  promised  it,  and  this  day 

He  was  as  good  as  His  word,  for  now,  even  this  day,  our 

eyes  have  seen  His  salvation,  which  He  hath  prepared,  not 

for  Jacob  or  Israel  only,  but  before  the  face  of  all  people,  and 

to  be  a  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  as  well  as  to  be  the  glory  Lu.  2.  30. 

of  His  people  Israel.     And  we  have  heard  with  our  ears, 

O  God,  and  our  fathers  have  told  us  of  old,  how  Thou  hast  Ps.  44.  i,  2. 

not   driven  out  the  heathen,  as  David   there   speaks,  but 

planted  them  in,  fetched  them  home  that  were  gone  astray 

before,  fetch  [ed]  them  to  Thy  blessed  flock,  that  we  might  Job.  lo.  16. 

be  all  one  fold  under  that  great  Shepherd,  That  would  give 

His  life  for  His  flock. 

This  then  is  the  day  which  the  Lord  hath  made,  made  it 
and  made  us  with  it  too;  indeed  he  had  made  us  before, 
but  we  had  marred  His  workmanship;  now  to-day  we  came 
to  be  made  again,  and  our  second  making  made  us  for  ever, 
we  were  now  become  His  workmanship  in  Christ  Jesus,  as  Eph.  2.  lo. 
St.  Paul  calls  it.     This  is  the  day  that  the  Lord  hath  made 
for  us,  and  therefore  this  should  be  the  day  that  we  should 
make  for  Him  too;  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it,  as  it  follows  Ps.  lis. 24. 
there  in  the  Psalm,  and  as  it  follows  here  in  the  Gospel  too ; 
for  St.  Matthew  says,  a  little  after  the  text,  that  when  they 
saw  the  star  they  rejoiced  exceedingly,  and  so  they  proved  Mat.  2.  lo. 
the  Angel's  words  true,  tidings  of  great  joy.     And  now  I  Lu.  2.  lo. 
know  there  is  no  question  but  that  most  of  us  will  rejoice 
too;    nay,,  the  world  shall  know  that  we  do  not  mean  to 
pass  this  day  away  without  that.     But  such  joy  we  com- 
monly use  as,  God  knows,  will  end  with  weeping  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth :   our  mouth  shall  be  filled  with  laughter,  if  ye 
will,  and  we  will  be  hke  them  that  dream,  as  the  Prophet  Ps.  126. 
speaks,  but  not  for  the  turning  of  our  captivity  this  day   '  ' 

«  S.  Leo,  Serm.  in  Nativ.  ap.  Bibl.  Patr.  v.  ii.  815. 

b2 


4  Dignity  of  this  festival. 

SERM.  from  bondage,  a  worse   than   that   in   Babylon,   from    the 

^ bondage  of  sin  and  hell  itself.     '  Sing  we  merrily  unto  God 

Ps.  81. 1.  our  strength,'  saith  the  Psalm.  No,  '  Sing  merrily,'  an  ye 
will,  so  far  we  go ;  but  if  we  come  to  '  God  our  strength,' 
then  our  voice  is  quite  gone,  we  have  no  skill  in  such  songs, 
and  yet  this  must  be  our  rejoicing,  or  else  all  our  Christmas 
sport  is  but  spoiled.  It  is  true  these  are  all  days  of  joy  in- 
deed, of  great  joy ;  joy  as  much  as  ye  will,  even  as  they  joy 

Is.  9.  3.  in  harvest,  saith  Isaiah  ;  but  be  sure  ye  take  that  along  to 
make  your  joy  sweet  which  the  Holy  Virgin  taught  us  at 
the  very  first  news  of  all,  of  any  Christmas  rewards,  at  the 

Lu.  1. 46.  Annunciation,  "My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord,  and  my 
spirit  hath  rejoiced  in  God  my  Saviour." 

And  this  day  became  God  the  Saviour  of  the  Gentiles, 
when  we  might  see  the  star  tell  us,  as  Christ  afterward  told 

Lu.  19.  9.  the  publican,  this  day  was  salvation  come  unto  us ;  even  this 
last  day  of  all  the  solemnity  it  came,  to  make  it  greater  than 
the  rest,  the  greatest  of  all  the  twelve,  as  the  Catholic  Church 
hath  ever  accounted  it,  the  great  and  proper  feast  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, such  as  we  were  before  it,  and  the  last  day  was  always 

Joh.  7. 37.  the  greatest  day  of  the  feast,  as  you  may  see  in  the  Gospel. 
So  I  did  not  amiss  to  call  this  day  at  first,  the  great  and  last 
day  of  our  Christmas  solemnity.  Last.  Fll  warrant  you 
every  tradesman  will  tell  you  (specially  if  he  has  got  a  twang 
in  his  head)  that  all  these  observations  of  times  are  but  popish 
customs,  they  will  not  celebrate  ye  a  day  longer ;  nay,  not  so 
long  neither,  but  for  the  law ;  the  day  of  the  Gentiles'  call- 
ing, what  is  that  to  them  ?  They  have  a  tribe  and  a  calling 
by  themselves,  that  was  marked  out  for  heaven  sure  long  be- 
fore either  Jews  or  Gentiles  were  stirring.  And  *  great'  too, 
for  the  great  and  wide  world  was  blessed  this  day  with  the 

Lu.  1.78;  day-star  from  on  high,  with  the  glad  tidings  of  the  Gospel, 
'the  tidings  of  the  great  Shepherd  and  the  great  King,  the 
great  King  above  all  gods.  Or  because  we  will  be  sure  to 
make  it  a  great  and  high  day,  higher  than  the  rest ;  if  this 
Epiphany  alone  will  not  do  it,  we  have  two  or  three  more 
actions,  of  that  dignity  that  they  would  make  high  days  of 
themselves,  to  add  to  it;  for  this  day,  saith  St.  Gregory 
ISTazianzen  \  was  Christ  also  baptized  in  Jordan,  and  there- 

'  S.  Greg.  Nazianz.  Orat.  xxxix.  in  sancta  lumina,  0pp.  1.  624. 


Christ's  several  Epiphanies.  5 

fore  he  calls  his  oration,  De  baptismo  Christi — Epiphania 
Domini^.  Before,  He  was  born  to  us  upon  this  day,  and 
now  He  is  baptized  for  us  upon  the  same  day  too.  And  be- 
cause it  should  want  no  honour,  we  read  that  a  year  after 
His  baptism  He  wrought  His  first  miracle  at  a  marriage 
upon  this  day  too,  saith  Maximus;  or,  an  ye  will  not 
believe  him,  the  Second  Lesson  [appointed  by]  our  own  Joh.  2. 1— 
Church  will  tell  you  as  much.  They  are  three  only  things 
Avhich  the  Church  hath  ever  observed  for  to  preserve  the 
honour  of  the  day :  and  if  you  will  have  a  fourth  to  make 
more  exceeding  this  day  than  any  other  we  read  of,  this 
was  the  day  saith  Origen,  and  St.  Augustine  after  him, 
wherein  He  fed  four  thousand  in  the  wilderness  with  a  few 
loaves  and  two  fishes.  Ecce,  quam  magna  et  mirabilia  fecit.  Mat.  14. 17. 
Behold  now,  *  how  many  and  how  wonderful  things  He  hath 
done  for  us  to-day,'  made  us,  baptized  us,  married  us,  fed 
us,  all  in  this  one  day.  And  therefore  among  the  ancients 
(as  St.  Hieromc  for  one  in  whom  I  have  read  it,  but  Maxi- 
mus saith  he  hath  seen  it  in  many  more)  it  is  not  dies  Epi- 
phanice,  in  the  singular  number,  but  Epiphaniarum,  a  day  of 
many  manifestations  •*. 

And  well  may  it  be  called  thus,  a  day  of  many  Epiphanies, 
were  it  but  for  the  Gentiles'  coming  only ;  for  if  ever  many 
things  were  opened  at  once  that  were  hid  before,  shadows 
of  things  to  come,  it  was  surely  this  day.  For  though  there 
was  no  such  matter  thought  on  before,  yet  now  it  is  made 
manifest  what  was  figured  by  these  same  Exploratores,  the  Josh.  6. 23. 
spies  that  went  out  beforehand  to  see  the  Land  of  Promise. 
And  now  ye  may  perceive  plainly  what  it  was  that  Solomon's  1  Kings  5. 

I'ch'.  29. 2. 

«  See  the  passages  collected  by  Ca-  Tempore,  in  festo  Epiphaniae  Domini, 

saubon  in  his  ii.  Exercit.  ad  Ann.  Card.  Serm.  1.   Hodie   illud   festum  [^al.  sa- 

Baron.  pp.  168,  169.  edit.  Genev.  1655.  cramentum]  colimus,  quo  se  in  homine 

and  by  Suicer,  in  his  Thesaur.  v.  'Eiri-  Deus  virtutibusdeclaravit ;  pro  eo  quod 

<(>dvfia.  in    hac  die,  sive  quod   in   coelo  Stella 

**  Latini  scriptores  causas  hujus  so-  ortus  sui  nuntiuni  praebuit;    sive  quod 

lemnitatis  tres   assignarunt,  magorum  in  Cana  Galilaeae  in  convivio  nuptiali 

adventum,  baptisma  Christi,  et  primum  aquani  in  vinum  coiivertit ;  sive  quod 

in  Cana  miraculum  ;  quae  tria  miracula  in  Jordanis  undis  aquas  ad  reparatio- 

eadem  die  sed  annis  diversis  putabant  nem  buinani  generis  suo  baptismo  con- 

esse  facta,  ut  prolixe  explicant  Euche-  secravit ;  sive  quod  de  quinque  pani- 

rius  Lugdunensis,  Homilia  in  Vigilia  bus  quinque  millia  hominum  satiavit. 

S.  Andreae,    et    Petrus    Chrysologus,  In  quolibet  horum  salutis  nostrse  mys- 

Serm.  157.  .  .  .  Sunt  et  qui  rationem  teria  continentur  et  gaudia. — Casaub. 

quartam    afferant,   propter  miraculum  Exercit.  Baron,  p.  169. 
quinque  panum.      B.  Augustinus  de 


6  Types  of  the  Epiphany . 

SEEM.  Temple  must  have  the  wood  from  Lebanon  amongst  the  Gen- 

'- —  tiles,  as  well  as  stones  at  home  among  the  Jews ;   and  that 

1  Kings      Hiram  king  of  Tyrus  must  help  to  build  God's  house  as  well 

iKiiigs      as  himself,  king  of  Jerusalem,  and  afterwards  have  twenty 

^'  "'"■'"•         cities  given  him  for  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  to  dwell  together 

in.     And  now  it  is  plain  what  is  meant  that  not  Gideon's 

Judg.  6.      fleece  alone,  but  the  whole  earth  must  be  spread  over  with 

'     ■        the  morning  dew;  and  that  Moses  had  married  a  woman  of 

Ex.  2. 21.    Ethiopia ;  and  that  Samson  must  leave  the  daughters  of  his 

Judg.  14. 1.  brethren,  and  first  marry  an  uncircumcised  Philistine,  and 

Judg.  16. 4.  then  fall  in  love  with  the  harlot  D  alii  ah :   which  manifests 

likewise  what  we  were,  for  before  this  day  we  went  a  whoring 

after  our  own  inventions.     And  therefore  it  was  well  figured 

again  in  that,  that  God  would  have  Hosea  go  and  take  unto 

Hos.  1. 2.    him  a  wife  of  fornications;    and  that  a  woman  in  captivity 

Esth. 2, 18.  must  be  married  to  Assuerus  the  king;    and  that  Moses 

*    ■    the  servant  of  God  must  be  adopted  the  son  of  Pharaoh's 

Gen.  26. 3.  daughter ;  and  that  Isaac  must  have  the  inheritance,  though 

Ismael  were  the  eldest;    and  Jacob  have  the  birth -right, 

Gen.26.33.  though  Esau  were  the  first-born  (which  is  St, Paul's  applica- 

Kom.9.13.  ^.        °      ,,  ,  />,.-,      V  -,  ,     ,     r.  V      • 

tion  to  the  very  honour  or  this  day);  and  so  that  Ephraim 
must  be  put  at  the  right  hand  of  Jacob,  though  Manasses 

Gen.48.13.  were  the  elder  son,  howsoever  it  displeased  Joseph ;  and  that 
Joseph  himself  must  be  sold  for  a  bond-slave  into  Egypt,  as 
we  were  before,  and  afterwards  exalted  to  the  golden  chain  and 

Gen.  37.     the  best  chariot  that  Pharaoh  had,  to  the  height  of  his  king- 

42,' 43.'  dom,  as  we  are  now,  for  thus  were  we  this  day  exalted;  and 
lastly,  that  his  father  Jacob  must  have  children  by  Leah  that 

Gen.  35.  was  blear-eyed,  as  well  as  by  Rachel,  that  was  beautiful  and  fair. 
I  hope  by  this  time,  it  is  clear  why  this  day  should  be  called 
the  Epiphany;  there  were  so  many  things  made  known  in 
it,  that  lay  under  a  cloud  before ;  for  these  were  all  shadows 
yet.  But  now  when  this  star  arose,  it  enlightened  them  all, 
made  them  manifest  what  they  all  figured,  even  this  day's 
calling  of  the  Gentiles.  Take  but  any  of  them ;  the  blear- 
eyed  Leah  will  tell  us  how  blind  we  were  before,  as  blind  as 
men  that  grope  in  the  dark,  in  the  darkness  of  ignorance, 
darkness  as  black  as  that  of  Egypt ;  and  that  therefore  this 
star,  this  day-spring  from  on  high,  did  appear  to-day  to  give 
light  to  them  that  sit  in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of 


Benefits  conferred  by  it.  7 

death,  and  to  guide  our  feet  into  the  way  of  peace ;  of  peace 
right,  for  before  we  were  at  mighty  variance  with  heaven. 
Before,  we  could  hear  of  nothing  but,  to  execute  vengeance 
upon  the  heathen,  and  to  bind  their  kings  in  chains ;  but  to-  Ps.  149. 
day  the  heathen  are  come  into  God's  inheritance,  and  with- 
out complaint  too ;  no  more  indignation  now  to  be  poured 
upon  them,  as  it  follows  there  in  the  Psalm,  but  God  now 
reigneth  over  the  heathen,  and  the  princes  of  the  people  are 
gathered  unto  the  people  of  the  God  of  Abraham;  and  though  Ps.  47. 8, 9, 
the  Gentiles  did  rage  before,  and  the  kings  of  the  earth  did 
baud  themselves  against  the  Lord's  Anointed,  yet  to-day  they 
grew  wise  and  took  David's  counsel,  'Be  wise  now  therefore,  Ps. 2.2,10. 
O  ye  kings  ;*   they  came  and  joined  themselves  together  for 
a  better  purpose,  to  worship  the  Lord's  Anointed,  Christ  the 
Lord.     Before  this  time  God  was  known  in  Jury  only,  and 
His  name  was  great  in  Israel  alone,  but  now  there  is  neither  Pa.  76. 1. 
speech  nor  language  but  His  voice  hath  been  heard  among  Pb.  19. 3. 
them ;  and  since  the  heavens  have  declared  His  glory,  as  Ps.  19. 1. 
this  day  they  did.  His  sound  is  gone  even  unto  the  ends  of  Rom.  10. 
the  world,  as  far  as  the  Magi  of  the  East.     Yea,  though  we 
were  dogs  before,  and  must  not  have  the  children's  bread 
given  us,  as  Christ  bespake  the  woman,  yet  now  He  hath  Mat.  13.26. 
given  us  power  to  be  the  sons  of  God,  as  St.  John  speaks.        Job.  1. 12. 

It  was  David's  prayer  that  God  would   think  upon  His  Ps.  74. 8. 
inheritance,  and  whensoever  He  thought  upon  it,  to  -  day 
we  are  sure  He  did,  and  it  was  time   to   think  and  have 
mercy  upon  her,  yea  O  Lord,  the  time  was  come,  for  it  Ps.  102. 
pitied  Thee  to  see  us  in  the  dust.     And  therefore  as  soon    ' 
as  Christ  did  but  ask  of  Him,  as  the  Psalmist  speaks,  He  Pb.  2. 8. 
gave  Him  the  heathen  for  His  inheritance,  and  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  for  His  possession. 

And  though  we  were  never  so  far  remote,  men  of  the 
East  and  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  as  I  tell  you,  yet  God 
heard  our  cry  to  bring  us  out  of  bondage,  and  to  turn  our 
captivity  like  the  rivers  in  the  South.  A  cruel  captivity,  Ps.  126. 5. 
as  I  told  you  before,  worse  by  far  than  that  in  Babylon  or 
the  land  of  Goshen ;  yet  from  this  captivity,  from  this  house 
of  bondage,  hath  God  this  day  delivered  us.  And  now  we 
are  at  deliverance,  will  ye  mark  how  like  our  deliverance 
to-day  was  to  theirs  out  of  Egypt  in  every  point.     When 


8  Deliverance  from  Egypt,  a  type. 

SEEM.  Israel  came  out  of  Egypt,  the  sea  fled  so  fast  that  David 

- —  was  fain  to  ask  what  it  ailed :  and  might  not  we  this  day 

^^  ■  ■  stand  wondering,  not  at  the  sea,  but  at  that  which  governs 
the  sea,  the  heavens  and  the  stars,  for  going  backward?  for 
this  star  that  led  these  Wise  Men  went  quite  cross  to  all  the 
other.  Then  as  Pharaoh,  he  and  all  his  host  were  troubled 
to  hear  the  news  of  their  delivery,  and  raged  so  much  that 
a  man  might  ask  them  what  ailed  them  too,  so  Herod  here 

Mat.  2. 3.  (ye  may  see  it  in  the  very  next  words  to  my  text)  he  no 
sooner  heard  of  our  news,  the  news  of  Gentiles  coming  to 
Christ,  but  presently  he  and  all  Jerusalem  were  troubled 
at  it;  and  how  he  raged,  the  voice  of  weeping  and  howl- 
ing that  was  heard  in  Rama,  and  Rachel  that  mourned  for 
her  children  and  would  not  be  comforted,  or  the  men  of 
war,  that  knew  what  belonged  to  raging  best,  shall  tell 
us,  who  went  and  slew  all  the  poor  young  children  in 
Bethlem,  where  Herod  thought  to  have  put  out  the  light 
that  this  day  gave  shine  unto  the  world;  but  he  was  de- 
ceived, it  was  too  high  for  his  reach.     And  last  of  all,  as 

Ex.  14.  27.  Pharaoh,  for  all  his  raging,  was  overwhelmed  and  drowned 
in  the  Red  Sea,  so  Herod  here,  howsoever  he  lived  a  while 
longer,  yet  he  drowned  himself,  while  he  lived,  in  the  Red 
Sea  too,  even  the  sea  of  blood. 

So  then,  for  a  conclusion,  as  God  hath  made  this  our  day's 
deliverance  like  theirs,  as  we  see  in  all  points,  what  have  we 
to  do  but  to  make  the  day,  as  they  made  it  too,  a  day  of  joy 
and  thanksgiving,  a  day  of  a  solemn  and  set  service.     Moses 

Ex.  15.  20.  with  a  song  and  Miriam  with  a  timbrel  in  her  hands  that 
day.     Woe  to  us  if  we  had  been  still  constrained  to  dwell  in 

Ps.  120.  5.  Mesech,  or  to  have  had  our  habitation  among  the  tents  of 
Kedar ;  then  we  might  indeed  have  sat  like  unto  them  that 

Ps.  137. 2.  mourn  and  have  hanged  our  harps  upon  the  willows.  But 
since  we  are  brought  out  of  darkness,  and  now  sit  no  more 

Lu.  1. 79.  in  the  shadow  of  death,  but  have  our  feet  guided  by  the 
light  of  His  star,  our  hearts  made  glad  with  the  tidings  of 
the  Gospel,  now  bring  hither  the  tabret  and  harp,  and  blow 

Ps.  81. 2.    up  the  trumpet  of  praise,  for  this  is  our  solemn  feast  day. 

And  so  I  have  done  with  the  feast,  and  from  the  day 
I  come  to  opus  diei,  from  the  time  to  the  text,  though 
I  have  not  been  far  from  it  all  this  while. 


The  subject  divided.  9 

'Now  when  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlem.'  And  now  when 
I  begin  to  read  my  text,  methinks  it  is  not  opus  diei,  it  doth 
not  agree  with  the  time,  for  Christ  was  not  born  in  Bethlera 
to-day,  and  indeed  unless  we  go  on  it  will  not  be  verbum  in 
die  suo,  Solomon's  rule.  And  therefore  to  make  it  so,  it 
follows,  *  Behold  Wise  Men  came  from  the  East  to  Jerusalem, 
saying,  "Where  is  lie  That  is  born  King  of  the  Jews,  for  we 
have  seen,*  &c. 

The  text  would  do  well  to  have  no  division  to-day,  because 
it  is  a  day  of  union,  wherein  they  that  were  divided  before 
were  made  one  under  Christ :  and  therefore  I  might  only 
call  it  the  Epiphany,  one  general  head,  and  so  away.  But 
because  we  have  been  long  enough  about  that,  and  for 
order's  sake  too,  you  may  observe  these  parts. 

1.  A  peregrination,  *  Behold  there  came  from  the  East  to 
Jerusalem;'  the  first  point. 

2.  'There  came' — not  poor  pilgrims  or  beggars  that  had 
nothing  else  to  do,  but — the  great  ones,  the  sages  of  the  land, 
Ecce,  Magi  venerunt;  and  that  is  the  second  point,  the  per- 
sons that  came. 

3.  And  they  came,  not  like  men  that  had  no  comfort  or 
company  in  their  journey,  that  they  knew  not ;  but  a  glad- 
some director  they  had  to  go  along  with  them,  a  star  in  the 
firmament;  and  that  is  the  third. 

4.  Then  for  the  fourth  have  you  the  end  of  their  journey ; 

the  kings  of  the  East  came  just  as  the  queen  of  the  South  i  Kings 
did,  to  see  the  king  of  the  Jews,  and  therefore  they  ask, 
Where  is  the  King  of  the  Jews?    Yet  here  they  differed; 
for  she  came  to  hear  and  see  and  they  came  to  worship,  and 
we  are  come  to  worship  Him. 

5.  And  the  last  point  of  all  is,  the  present  occasion  of  their 
coming ;  which  was  Christ's  being  then  newly  born  at  Bethle- 
hem— 'When  Jesus'  &c. — And  here  the  kings'  coming  dif- 
fered from  the  queen's  again,  for  she  came  to  see  Solomon 
in  his  full  strength,  and  these  to  worship  Christ  in  the  be- 
ginning of  His  age;  she  to  behold  him  in  all  his  royalty,  in 
his  royal  throne,  in  his  kingly  city ;  these  to  behold  Christ  in 
all  His  poverty,  His  robes  being  but  the  poor  swaddling-clouts 
that  His  Mother's  mantle  could  make  Him,  His  attendants 
not  lords  of  the  chamber  but  beasts  of  the  field,  and  His 


10  Degrees  in  our  Lord's  humiliation. 

SEEM,  throne  not  of  six  fair  steps,  or  a  great  throne  of  ivory  co- 

— — ^ — -  vered  over  with  gold,  but  a  rude  manger  covered  perhaps 

17, 18.        with  dust,  or  at  the  best  His  Mother's  arms.     This  was  the 

magnificence  that  they  came  to  see,  and  this  the  King  That 

they  took  all  this  pains  to  search  and  come  from  the  East 

this  day  to  worship. 

1.  I  will  handle  the  occasion  first,  because  that  lays  first 
in  the  text,  and  so  I  will  deal  with  all  the  rest.  When  Jesus 
was  (1)  born  at  (2)  Bethlem,  in  the  (3)  days  of  (4)  Herod  the 
king;  that  is  the  occasion;  and  I  will  not  handle  it  neither, 
I  will  but  even  touch  it  and  so  away ;  because,  as  I  said  be- 
fore, it  is  not  proper  to  the  day.  But  somewhat  we  will 
make  of  it  though,  and  because  it  stands  in  our  way  to  the 
star,  we  will  make  a  ladder  of  it,  to  bring  us  up  thither,  and 
we  will  go  up  apace  too,  for  the  time  is  short,  and  we  have 
much  to  do  when  we  come  there. 

There  be  but  four  steps  in  it,  and  the  first  step  hits  right ; 
for  it  is  fit  to  be  the  lowest  of  all,  it  is  Christ's  humility. 
Cum  natus  esset  Jesus,  when  He  was  born,  that  Jesus  Who 
Mark  1. 1.  was  the  Son  of  the  living  God,  as  St,  Mark  begins  his  Gos- 
Mat.  1. 16.  pel,  should  come  to  be  the  Son  of  Joseph,  as  St.  Matthew 
begins  his;  that  the  immortal  God  Himself  should  come  to 
be  a  mortal  man,  the  Lord  of  Life  come  and  subject  Himself 
to  the  state  of  dying  men, — this  is  beyond  all  degrees    of 
lowliness.     It  had  been  humility  enough,  sure,  had  it  been 
only  Cum  Jesus  esset  in  Bethlem,  and  natus  left  out,  to  have 
been  there  at  all,  for  the  Son  of  God  to  have  visited  the  sons 
of  men  in  what  majesty  best  befitted  Him ;  but  to  be  born. 
Cum  natus  esset,  that  was  too  much  for  Him,  man  that  is 
Ps.  103. 15,  born  of  a  woman,  saith  David,  is  a  thing  of  nought.     Nay, 
factus  then  had  been  far  less,  for  so  He  might  have  had  a 
perfect  body  framed  Him,  and  *  made,'  in  the  vigour  of  His 
age,  as  Adam  was,  and  so  have  escaped  the  diseases  of  child- 
hood :  but  now,  not  to  be  '  made,'  but  to  be  '  born,'  that  is 
to  endure  many  more  miseries,  misery  within  the  womb  and 
misery  without  it,  the  age  next  the  birth  is  full  of  them. 
Yet  for  all  this,  Jesus  natus  est,  He  did  not  abhor  the  Virgin's 
womb  (a  thing  we  may  see  by  that  to  be  abhorred,)  but  was 
even  content  to  be  *  born'  for  us,  as  all  miserable  men  are. 
This  is  the  first  step. 


Christ,  why  bom  in  Bethlehem.  11 

2.  But  the  second  step  is  more  lowliness  yet,  it  comes 
a  degree  higher;  a  strange  virtue  this  humility  hath,  that 
the  lower  it  goes  the  higher  it  riseth. 

Not  *  born*  only,  but  '  born  in  Bethlem;'  the  place  where 
Jesus  was  born,  in  Bethlem.  Why,  if  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God, 
must  needs  be  born,  a  man  would  think  He  would  have  had 
■a  place  fit  for  His  birth;  the  glorious  heaven  would  not  have 
been  amiss  for  this  purpose,  and  therefore  if  Mary  had  been 
assumed  into  it  beforehand,  as  they  say  she  was  afterwards '', 
there  to  have  brought  Him  forth,  it  had  been  somewhat  like 
Himself.  Or  if  not  there,  because  He  must  have  come  down 
upon  the  earth  howsoever,  yet  the  city  of  the  great  King, 
the  city  of  David,  would  have  done  well ;  for  we  use  to  say 
that  the  place  doth  not  a  little  dignify  the  birth ;  and  there- 
fore St.  Paul  knew  how  well  it  would  do  to  say  that  he  was 

born  at  Tarsus,  a  famous  and  a  noble  city  in  Cilicia.     But  Acts  21. 

.  .  39 

now  m  little  Bethlem,  one  of  the  out  and  despised  cities,  was 

Christ  content  to  be  born  in ;  and  there,  not  in  a  palace,  or 
any  house  of  His  own,  or  His  Mother's  either,  but  in  an  inn 
among  the  common  people.  In  an  inn?  No,  I  was  mis- 
taken, there  was  no  room  for  Him  there,  it  was  in  the  stable 
among  the  common  beasts,  and  no  soft  couch  spread  for  Him 
there  neither.  It  was  even  in  a  cold  hard  cratch  ^,  in  a  very  •  a  manger 
corner  of  the  stable  too.  A  man  was  he  ?  a  very  worm,  and 
no  man ;  the  scorn  and  the  outcast  of  the  people.  Look  ye,  Ps.  22. 6. 
here  is  a  ladder  alone.  Not  in  the  glorious  city  of  heaven, 
nor  in  any  glorious  city  of  earth  neither,  nor  in  any  glorious 
house  of  any  city ;  but  in  a  mean  city,  and  in  a  mean  house 
too,  and  not  by  any  right  of  His  own  in  a  mean  house,  but 
in  a  common  inn,  where  every  body  had  to  do  as  well  as  He ; 
and  not  in  any  chamber  there,  as  the  meanest  comer  would 
take  up,  that,  but  in  the  stable ;  and  not  in  any  large  or  se- 
questered room  neither,  but  in  a  corner  of  the  cratch.  So 
far  as  He  could  go,  no  further,  nor  I  neither ;  but  this  was 
strange ;  Him  whom  the  heaven  of  heavens  could  not  con- 
tain before,  to  be  thus  pent  up :  this  was  humility,  lowliness 
to  the  height. 

And  now  we  are  come  to  the  top  of  the  ladder.     For  besides 

''  See  Suarez  in  3  Thomae,  torn.  ii.  p.  198. 


12  Christ,  why  born  in  the  reign  of  Herod. 

SEEM.  His  immortality  and  immensity, which  ye  see  these  two/ born,' 
'■ and  '  born  at  Bethlem/  have  humbled  well  enough.  He  had 


other  attributes  to  be  brought  low  too;    His  eternity  first, 
and  then  His  power. 

3.  So  we  make  the  third  step  to  be  '  in  the  days ;'  when 
Jesus  was  born  at  Bethlem  in  the  days.  That  He  That  was 
without  beginning  or  ending.  Which  made  the  evening  and 
the  morning  to  be  the  first  day  for  us,  Which  was  the  ancient 
of  days  Himself,  that  He  should  be  born  in  diebus,  '  in  the 
days,'  this  must  needs  be  one  degree  more.  It  was  enough, 
one  might  suppose,  that  place  must  measure  Him  before,  the 
stable  in  Bethlem;  but  to  have  time  measure  Him  too,  to 
be  made  a  man  of  thirty-three  years  of  age,  that  is  to  be 

Ps.  22.  6.  more  vile  yet,  as  David  said.  And  because  we  are  at  the 
time,  we  will  see  what  time  He  was  born  too ;  for  though  it 
was  in  the  days  of  Herod,  yet  it  was  in  the  night  time,  and 
in  the  winter  time  besides.  For  the  winter,  our  yearly  ob- 
servation of  the  feast  will  tell  us  it  was  so ;  and  for  the  night, 

Lu.  2. 8.  St.  Luke  saith,  it  was  when  the  shepherds  were  keeping 
their  flocks  by  night,  as  you  may  read  in  his  Gospel.  Now 
the  day  time  might  have  afforded  some  comfort,  or  the 
summer  time  at  least  might  have  helped  the  nakedness  of 
His  tender  body;  but  in  a  cold,  winter  night  to  be  born, 
there  His  charity  was  hot,  that  was  fervent  love  indeed. 

4.  But  it  is  not  in  diebus  only,  but  in  diebus  Herodis,  in 
the  days  of  Herod  the  king,  and  that  is  a  degree  further,  the 
fourth  step ;  to  have  His  power  made  subject  to  a  tyrant. 
He  That  was  the  head  of  all,  it  was  strange  to  have  Him  live 
under  any  power,  or  if  under  any,  yet  not  under  a  wicked 
and  a  cruel  tyrant.  If  He  must  needs  have  a  king  over 
Him,  it  would  have  been  good  to  have  had  such  a  one  as 

Gen.  41.  Pharaoh  was  to  Joseph,  or  Assuerus  to  Esther,  or  Darius  to 
Est.  2. 17.  Daniel;  but  to  have  another  Pharaoh  arise,  that  knew  Him 
Exod^i'^8  °°*>  ^^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^  *°  ^^  born,  and  to  have  a  Herod  tha< 
would  make  a  howling  over  all  Rama  but  he  would  kill  Him, 
and  then  to  come,  this  was  more  strange  than  all  the  rest. 
And  yet,  now  I  think  of  it,  in  diebus  Herodis  was  a  very  fit 
time  for  Him,  it  was  time  He  should  come,  for  the  sceptre 
was  gone  from  Judah  and  Christ  must  come  to  the  Jews. 
As  long  as  it  tarried  there,  God's  prophets  were  enough  to  be 


ChrisVs  humiliation  our  exaltation.  13 

sent;  but  when  it  came  under  strangers  once,  and  under 
Herod,  a  cruel  and  wicked  king,  when  the  law  of  God  was 
held  in  unrighteousness,  then  it  was  a  just  time  for  the  Just 
One,  the  Son  of  God,  to  come  ;  none  could  recover  the  king- 
dom but  He,  and  He  went  a  strange  way  about  it ;  if  He 
had  not  told  us  that  His  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world, 
we  might  have  wondered  at  it,  and  so  we  do  still,  to  go  no 
further  than  the  text ;  for  who  would  have  been  born  in  Jury 
at  such  a  time  as  he  must  presently  run  into  Egypt  before 
he  could  go  alone.  This  was  to  add  misery  upon  misery, 
one  degree  upon  another,  till  He  came  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  humility.  Count  we ;  immortality  itself  made  a  mortal 
man,  natus,  the  first  step ;  immortality  confined  within  a 
cratch,  natus  in  Bethlem,  the  second  ;  eternity  measured  by 
time,  in  diebus,  the  third ;  power  made  subject  to  tyranny, 
in  diebus  Herodis  regis,  the  fourth.  By  this  time  we  are 
come  to  the  very  top  of  the  ladder. 

Where  we  may  stand  and  see,  not  the  Angels  descending.  Gen.  28. 
as  Jacob  did,  but  the  Son  of  God  Himself  descending  from 
the  bosom  of  His  Father  to  the  womb  of  His  Mother,  from 
heaven  to  earth,  and  this  was  the  ladder  He  made  for  us  to 
go  up  to  heaven  by ;  for  unless  He  had  come  down,  we  should 
never  have  gone  up.  Whether  He  came  with  all  His  lowli- 
ness but  to  lead  us  up  again,  and  to  tell  us  that  here  was 
nothing  to  be  looked  for,  here  below  ;  for  if  there  had,  the 
Wise  Men  to-day  lost  their  labour  in  seeking  Him  out  for 
a  king.  And  therefore  He  lifts  up  their  eyes  to  heaven,  to 
the  bright  star  there ;  which,  for  all  His  lowliness  here,  gave 
them  to  understand  that  He  had  a  kingdom  in  a  better 
world.  And  thus  we  see  how  this  ladder  hath  brought  us 
from  earth  to  heaven.  But  yet  before  we  meddle  with  the 
star,  because  Ecce  3Iagi  stands  first  in  the  text,  we  will  come 
to  them  first,  and  that  shall  be  ray  order  in  the  rest,  how- 
soever the  division  went ;  and  now  we  are  at  opus  diei,  the 
proper  text  of  the  day.  I  have  made  a  preparation,  you  see, 
to  it,  as  St.  Mathew  did,  that  we  might  all  account  it  the 
more  solemn. 

And  first  of  all,  we  cannot  but  take  notice  of  this  same 

Ecce,  Behold.     It  is  a  word  set  up  for  the  nonce  ^  a  mark  '  for  the 

occasion 

set  up  in  our  journey  to  Jerusalem,  and  it  hath  two  faces, 


14  The  time  when  the  Magi  came. 

SEEM,  two  uses  in  the  text,  one  to  make  us  look  backwards,  and 

'■ another  to  raake  us  look  forwards ;  backwards  to  a  word, 

if  ye  mark  it,  that  we  have  left  out  all   this  while,   Cum, 
'  When,'  Christ  was  born  ;  and  forwards  to  all  the  rest,  '  Be- 
hold, when  He  was  born  there  came  Wise  Men  from  the 
East  to  Jerusalem.'     Then,  and  not  before,  that  is  the  first ; 
and  again,  though  not  before,  yet  then,  that  is  the  second. 
So  it  hath  two  fingers,  we  see,  to  point  backwards,  first,  cum 
natus,  '  when  He  was  born,'  *  they  came,'  venerunt,  and  not 
before ;  for  as  long   as  there  was  nothing   to  be   heard  of 
but  wrath  and  indignation  upon  the  heathen,  there  was  no 
coming  to  God,  but  like  children  that  had  heavily  offended 
their  father,  were  naturally  fearful  to  come  near  so  long ; 
Job.  13.  8.  nay,  as  long  as  Peter  considers  himself  a  sinful  man,  Christ 
Gen. 3. 10.  must  not  comc  near  him  neither;  and  Adam  must  hide  him- 
self in  the  bushes.     Men  with  all  their  sins   about  them 
'  until       cannot  endure  to  come  near  God ;  and  therefore  while  ^  He 
sent  His  Son  to  be  born.  That  should  save  men  from  their 
sins,  there  was  no  encouragement  to  come.     But  now,  cum 
natus,  once,  the  second  thing,  then,  Ecce  Magi,  Behold,  the 
Wise  Men  came  presently.    Now,  saith  your  new  translation, 
instantly  upon  His  birth  they  came,  and  go  we  and  celebrate 
the  day  so.     And  so  the  publicans  [in  the  Gospel ;  they  knew 
not,  poor  men,  what  they  should  think  of  themselves  as  long 
as  the  Pharisees  were  accounted  the  ipse^  of  the  age,  and 
Lu.  18. 11.  they  but  iste  publicanus  and  hcec  mulier.    But  when  they  saw 
13.  ■     ■     Christ  keep  company  with  them,  and  send  into  the  hedges 
and  contemned  places  for  the  halt  and  the  heathen,  then 
Lu.  15. 1.   they  began  to  take  heart ;  then,  saith  St.  Luke,  drew  near 
unto  Him  all  the  publicans  and  sinners.    So,  though  we  were 
Ezek.  33.   afraid  before,  yet  when  we  hear  God  say  once,  '  As  I  live,  I 
Lii.  14. 23.  will  not  the  death  of  a  sinner, '  and  Christ,  that   there  is 
room  yet  at  supper  for  them  which  sat  at  the  land's  end  in 
corners  and  hedges,  that  breeds  some  comfort.    And  so  when 
Ex.  20. 18.  God  spake  to  us  by  the  Law,  the  thunder  and  lightning  was 
so  big  as  we  durst  not  come  near  the  mountain ;  but  since  in 
Heb.  1.  2.    these  last  days  He  hath  spoken  to  us  by  His  Son,  since  the 
lightning  was  turned  into  a  bright  star  that  told  us  a  Saviour 
was  born  to-day.  Cum  natus  esset  Jesus,  then  we  come  from 
the  east,  from  the  world's  end  to  seek  Him.    And  so  much 


The  Magi,  their  origin.  15 

for  the  first  use  of  this  Ecce,  which  sent  us  two  ways  back- 
wards by  the  relation  it  had  with  the  word  '  when.' 

But  the  chief  use  of  it  is  to  make  us  look  forwards,  for 
there  we  have  most  to  behold.     *  Behold,  Wise  Men  came 
from  the  East  to  Jerusalem'.'     Ecce,  as  if  he  should  tell  us 
that  it  was  no  ordinary  matter,  but  a  thing  well  worth  our 
marking,  more  than  we  commonly  take  it  for.     When  he 
comes  to  his  Ecce  once,  it  is  sure  a  matter  of  weight,  of  some 
great  importance.     So  the  Annunciation  came  with  an  Ecce, 
Ecce  concipies,  and  John  the  Baptist  with  an  Ecce  too,  Ecce  Ln.  i.si. 
Agnus  Dei,  and  the  Angel  with  an  Ecce  too,  Ecce  evangelizo  Joh.  i.  36. 
vobis ;   all  matters  of  much  consequence,  and  therefore  sure 
some  great  thing  it  is,  and  no  small  matter  that  St.  Matthew 
is  about  here  to  tell  us ;  Ecce  Magi  "*.    Indeed  no  small  mat- 
ter, that  the  Magi  of  the  East,  the  Gentiles,  should  come  to 
Christ,  and  that  the  star  should  enlighten  them  that  sit  in 
darkness.     For  what  hath  light  to  do  with  darkness?  saith 
the  Apostle,  aut  qua  participatio  est  justitia  cum  iniquitate  ?  2  Cor.  6. 
What,  should  holy  things  be  cast  unto  dogs  ?  or  what  should 
soothsayers  do  amongst  the  prophets,  and  profane  diviners 
with  the  holy  divinity  of  Christ?     Sure  this   is  a   strange 
mystery,  worth  the   attending  and  listening  to,  worth  the 
going  out  to  see.     Ecce  Magi,  Behold  the  magicians  of  the 
East.     It  was  nothing  such  a  wonder  that  the  Angels  came 
down  from  heaven  to  worship  Him ;  they  were  always  used 
to  it  before;    and  tliough  it  was  a  strange  thing  that  the 
rude,  ignorant  shepherds  should  come  and  acknowledge  God 
come  in  the  flesh,  yet  much  more  marvellous  was   it  that 
such  men  as  these  Magi,  sacrilegi  et  malifeci,  as  St.  Austin 
calls  them",   and   tutored    by   the    devil,    as    St.  Hierome 
speaks,  cultores  idolorum  et  divini  nominis  hostes,  as  St.  Basil, 

'  See  Melch.  Canus,  Locc.  Theolog.  saur.  in  v.  Moyoy ;  Maldonat.  in  Matth. 

xi.  V.  p.  474.  edit.  1605.  p.  46.  edit.  Par.  1651;  Tiliemont,  M^m. 

"  The  opinions  of  the  Fathers  re-  i.  7.  426 — 431.  edit.  1701.      Further 

specting  the    origin    and  rank  of  the  authorities  are  cited  by  Wolfius  in  his 

Magi  and  their  journey  from  the  East  Curae  Philologicae,  and  Koecher  in  his 

to  Jerusalem,  have  been  collected  and  Analecta. 

discussed   by  Casaubon.  Exercit.  Ba-  "  Passages  from  the  writings  of  SS. 

ron.  ii.  n.  10.  p.  159.  edit.  Genev.  1655  ;  Augustine,  Thomas  Aquinas,  Haymo, 

Walch.   Hist.    Eccl.    N.   T.   p.   141 ;  Ambrose,  Justin  Martyr,  Hilary,  and 

Hyde,  de  Relig.  Vet.  Persarum,  cap.  others,  in  wliich    this   opinion    is  ex- 

31.  p.  372  J    Barradii    Harm.  Evang.  pressed,  are  collected  by  Barradius,  i. 

lib.ix.cap.8;Calovii,Bibl.Illust.N.T.  445. 
tom.i.  p.  154.  edit.  1719;  Suicer.  The- 


16  The  Magi,  their  number. 

SEEM.  St.  Ambrose,  and  some  other  of  the  Fathers  make  them; 
'■ for  them   to   come   and   acknowledsre   the  Son   of  God,  as 


poorly  as  He  lay,  this  was  beyond  an  ordinary  miracle. 
Or  whether  these  Magi  were  such  kind  of  men  or  no,  or 
but  only  so  called  for  their  admirable  wisdom  and  learning, 
or  their  account  above  other  people,  as  the  philosophi  were 
among  the  Grecians,  and  the  sapientes  and  doctores  among 
the  Latins,  which  is  St.  Chrysostom's,  and  Anselm's,  and 
Bede's  opinion,  besides  many  other  °,  both  of  ancient  and 
modern  writers,  and  which  is  the  fairest  sense  for  us  to 
follow,  seeing  our  own  Church  hath  gone  before  us  in  it, 
and  translated  it  so,  "Behold,  Wise  Men,"  I  say  if  they 
were  but  thus,  yet  Gentiles  they  were,  remote  from  God's 
covenant,  even  as  far  as  the  ends  of  the  earth  were  from 
Jerusalem,  the  east  from  the  west;  and  therefore  St. 
Matthew  might  well  set  an  Ecce  upon  it,  and  bid  us  wonder 
how  they  should  come  thither.     JEcce  venerunt  magi. 

I  will  not  now  trouble  myself  and  you  both,  as  many  do,  to 
tell  you  how  many  of  these  Magi  there  were,  three,  or  more ; 
or  to  tell  you  a  tale  out  of  Petrus  de  Palude  how,  being  kings 
at  first,  they  left  that  office  for  St.  Thomas  to  make  them  all 
archbishops  in  their  country,  and  how  after  two  of  them 
were  dead,  and  laid  close  together  in  their  graves,  they 
started  one  from  another  to  make  room  for  the  third ;  and 
how  Helen,  Constantine's  mother,  begged  their  bodies,  of 
the  patriarch  there,  and  carried  them  to  Constantinople, 
1  Milan  and  from  thence  how  they  came  to  Millaine\  in  St.  Am- 
»  Cologne  brose's  days,  and  then  to  Colein^  at  last,  which  makes  them 
now  to  be  called  the  Three  Kings  of  Colein ;  and  what  their 
names  were  besides  all  this.  These  kind  of  speculations  will 
do  us  little  stead,  which  way  soever  they  go.  Yet  for  their 
numberP  as  I  would  not  be  too  curious  to  search,  so  I  would 
not  be  too  boisterous  to  condemn  and  think  every  thing 
popery  that  we  read  not  in  the  text.  It  hath  been  a  very 
ancient  tradition,  (Leo  hath  it  in  his  Sermons,)  and  perhaps 

°  Barradius  supplies  a  large  collec-  Sermonum  ad  Fratres  in  Eremo,  Serm. 

tion  of  such  authorities.  43,  Anselmus,  Innocentius  in  Serm.  de 

P  Rogasquotnam  fuerintmagi?  Re-  Epiph.,  Bernardus  in  Serm.  6.  de  vigi- 

spondemus  fuisse  tres  ex  recepta  sen-  lia    Nativ.  pastores    tres,  tres  quoque 

tentia.     Tres  fuisse  sentit  Divus  Leo,  magos  numerat. — Barrad.  Harm.  lib. ix. 

in  Sermonibus  de  Epiphania,  Author  cap.  8. 


Kingly  dignity  of  the  Magi.  17 

at  the  first  they  had  better  reason  for  it  than  we  know  of 
now.  And  for  their  dignity,  whether  they  were  kings  or  no, 
I  cannot  tell ;  yet  Tertulliani  says  (and  TuUy  "^  likewise  before 
him)  they  would  have  no  other  kings  there  but  Magi,  such 
as  these  were ;  and  it  hath  been  an  old  custom  of  the  Church 
(howsoever  our  new  masters  deride  it)  to  apply  that  saying 
in  the  Psalms,  *  The  kings  of  Tharsis  and  of  the  isles  shall  Ps.  72. 10. 
bring  gifts,'  and  that  in  Isaiah,  *  The  Gentiles  shall  walk  in  is.  60. 3. 
Thy  light,  and  kings  at  the  brightness  of  Thy  rising*  up,' — to 
these  Wise  Men.  Kings !  why  doth  not  St.  Matthew  call 
them  so  then?  There  may  be  reason  for  that.  It  more 
concerns  us  and  God  too,  to  have  Christ  acknowledged  by 
the  wise,  than  by  any  king  whatsoever;  and  perhaps  he 
would  teach  us  by  it  that  the  greatest  honour  we  can  have 
is  to  be  wise  men  (it  is  a  good  use  for  us  to  make  of  it,  at 
least)  : 

Regem  non  faciunt  opes ; 
•  •  •  •  • 
Rex  est  qui  posuit  raetus 
£t  diri  mala  pectoris '. 

Herod  indeed,  he  might  afford  him  the  name  of  a  king  well 
enough,  it  was  the  only  thing  he  had  to  stand  upon :  but  for 
them  that  had  wisdom  to  commend  them,  and  came  to 
worship  Him  that  had  no  kingdom  of  this  world,  it  was 
no  great  matter  to  tell  of  their  kingdoms.  Herod,  we  know, 
made  so  much  of  his  crown  that  rather  than  it  should  off 
he  would  murder  all  the  coasts  about  him ;  whereas  they 
contemned  theirs  so  much  (if  they  had  any)  that  they  took 
them  off  themselves  and  threw  them  at  Christ's  feet.  So 
that  they  might  be  kings,  for  all  St.  Matthew  calls  them 
not  so;  or  if  not  kings,  as  the  tradition  and  some  authority 
goes,  yet  all  stories  will  make  them  the  nobles  and  great 
ones  of  their  country,  men  of  no  small  account,  as  likely  to 
be  kings,  such  as  they  had  in  these  parts,  as  any  else. 

And  here  now  we  may  set  up  the  Ecce  again.     Ecce  Magi. 
Not  men  of  mean  condition,  the  outcasts  of  the  people,  or 

1  Nam  et  magos  reges  fere  habuit  '  Tertullian,   in    the    passage    just 

oriens. — TertuU.  adv.  Judxos,  cap.  ix.  quoted,  makes  a  similar  application  of 

p.  192.  edit.  1664.  Ps.72.  15.     See  Lorini  Comment,  in 

'  Non  potest  quisquam  rex  esse  Per-  Ps.  71.  11.  p.  335.  edit.  1619. 

sarum,  qui  non  ante  magorum  disci-  *  L.  A.  SenecjE  Thyestes,  Ciiorus  in 

plinam  perceperit.  Cic.  deDivin.  lib.l.  Act  ii.  p.  484.  edit.  Lugd.  Bat.  1651. 

COCIN.  C 


18  Why  their  coming  was  delayed. 

SEEM,  poor  pilgrims  that  had  little  else  to  do,  but  men  of  authority 

'■ and  rule  where  they  were,  men   famous   besides    for  their 

knowledge,  whose  books  to  look  on  were  as  large  as  the 
heavens.  Reguli  at  least,  if  not  reges,  came  from  the  East 
to  Jerusalem,  great  men,  the  unlikeliest  of  any  to  take  so 
much  pains  for  devotion;  more  ready,  a  man  would  think, 
as  these  times  go,  to  take  their  pleasure  at  home  than  to  go 
upon  pilgrimage  abroad ;  to  attend  the  world  than  to  go  and 
worship  Him  that  had  nothing  of  it.  And  yet,  great  ones  as 
they  were,  they  came  for  all  that,  to  tell  us,  first,  who  should 
come  after,  how  the  only  way  to  be  great  is  to  be  little,  lowly 
before  God  the  only  way  to  be  accounted  kings,  to  be  servants, 
to  come  and  worship  God ;  which  we  acknowledge  every  day 
in  our  Church  service,  Cui  servire  regnare  est,  as  the  old 
collect"  goes,  'Whose  service  is  perfect  freedom,'  that  is  a 
kingdom  right.  And  then  to  watch  besides,  that  godliness 
and  greatness  would  do  well  together,  the  king's  house  and 
God's  house  joined  close  to  one  another,  for  the  more  honour 
of  both.  The  great  ones  of  our  age  take  journeys  too,  but 
it  is  for  another  purpose,  not  for  religion's  sake.  Yes,  saith 
Eev.  6.  8.  St.  John,  I  saw  him  riding  upon  a  brave  horse,  but  Death 
and  Hell  were  his  companions.  Be  we  then  what  we  will  be, 
rich,  or  wise,  or  great,  we  had  need  take  care  where  we  go, 
for  fear  of  such  companions  by  the  way.  The  best  way 
will  be  to  follow  those  Magi,  even  in  their  way  to  Christ ; 
and  then  we  shall  not  have  darkness  and  death,  but  God's 
Spirit  and  a  star  in  heaven  go  along  with  us. 

But  before  we  can  go  any  further  in  the  pilgrimage,  there 
is  a  stop  by  the  way,  and  that  is  one  that  asks  us  why  these 
Gentiles  come  so  late  ?  Why  not  they,  learned  and  quick 
men,  as  soon  as  the  ignorant  and  dull  shepherds  ?  We  might 
say  that  the  East  was  further  off  a  great  deal  than  the  next 
field;  but  howsoever,  sure  I  am  that  the  Jews  were  nearer 
to  God  than  the  Gentiles,  we  were  all  strangers  to  the  cove_ 
nant ;  et  ergo  (says  one)  qui  remotiores  erant  a  foedere  tardius 
Acts  13.  accesserunt,  and  the  Gospel  ought  first  to  come  to  you,  saith 
^^-  St.  Paul  to  the  Jews.     Therefore  came  the  Magi  last.     And 

"  Deus,    auctor    pacis    et    afinator,  tua  fidemus,  nuUius  hostilitatis  arma 

quern  nosse  vivere,  cui  servire  regnare  timeamus;  per  Jesum  Christum,  Domi- 

est;  protege  ab  omnibus  impugnationi-  num  nostrum.  Amen.  —  S.  Greg.  Lib. 

bus  supplices  tuos,  ut  qui  in  defensione  Sacr.  Missa  pro  pace. 


Their  journey  from  afar  country.  19 

then  (because  there  are  more  questions)  Christ  was  not  ma- 
nifested to  the  learned,  but  the  ignorant  Jews;  nor  to  the 
religious  and  just  men  of  the  time,  but  to  the  sinful  Gentiles; 
nee  doctis,  nee  justis  (saith  St.  Austin,)  quippe  Qui  venerat 
stulta  eligere  ut  confunderet  sapientes,  and  not  to  call  the  Mat.  9. 13. 
righteous  but  sinners  to  repentance.  Therefore  came  the 
Magi,  sinful  men.  And  lastly :  He  was  made  known  to  the 
Jews  in  the  persons  of  shepherds,  and  to  the  Gentiles  in  the 
persons  of  great  men,  that  we  might  know  how  the  chief 
pastors  and  ministers  of  Christ's  Church  should  come  from 
the  Jews,  as  St.  Peter  and  the  rest  of  the  Apostles ;  but  the 
chief  defenders  of  it,  kings  and  princes,  they  should  come 
out  of  the  Gentiles,  as  indeed  they  did.  Therefore  came  the 
Magi,  great  men. 

And  now  the  way  is  clear,  I  go  on.  Eece  Magi  venerunt. 
*  Came.'  So  the  persons  we  have  done  with  all,  and  now  we 
are  at  their  full  pilgrimage.  *Came  from  the  East.*  And 
here  we  will  go  apace,  for  we  have  a  great  way  yet  to  Christ, 
the  end  of  their  journey  and  of  my  text.  I  am  afraid  it  will 
grow  late  before  I  shall  get  half  way. 

And  first  therefore,  it  will  not  be  best  to  trouble  you  with 
knowing  what  country  they  came  from^,  whether  from  Persia, 
as  St.Chrysostora  and  St. Basil;  or  Arabia,  as  Justin  Martyr 
and  Cyprian;  or  from  Chaldea,  as  Maximus  and  Chrysologus; 
or  from  the  furthest  part  of  Ethiopia,  as  Hilarius  Arelatensis 
thinks ;  or  with  counting  how  much  time  they  spent  in  com- 
ing so  far ; — this  would  stay  us  too  long  on  our  way ;  and 
therefore  we  will  haste  on  without  enquiring  after  them. 

*  From  the  East.'  Not  from  the  next  door,  or  a  town  hard 
by,  but  a  longe,  even  from  far,  even  as  the  Ethiopian  in  the 
Acts  (whom  some  think  they  sent  afterwards)  came  from  the  Acts  8. 27. 
ends  of  the  earth  to  worship  at  Jerusalem.  A  hard  journey 
sure  they  had,  saith  St.Chrysostom,  for  besides  the  long  way  Opp.  vii. 
there  were  huge  mountains  and  horrid  deserts,  great  floods 
and  rivers  to  pass,  wild  beasts  and  (what  is  more)  beastly  and 
wild  men  to  pass  by.  And  yet  by  all  these  difficulties  they 
came,  even  from  the  East  to  Jerusalem. 

»  S.  Chrysos.  i.  498,  499 ;  vii.  86,  Taur.  ap.  Bibl.  Pat.  v.  i.  28 :  S.  Chry- 
&c. :  S.Basil,  ii.  600:  S.  Just.  Mart,  solog.  id.  v.  ii.774,  775:  S.  Hilar.  210. 
174,175:   S. Cypr.  Ixxxix. :  S.Maxim.      edit.  Benedict. 

c2 


20  Modern  supineness  censured. 

SEEM.       Now  what  a  shame  was  it  for  the  Jews  which  were  round 
^ about  Him,  that  the  Gentiles  from  the  East  should  come  to 


seek  Christ  and  they  sit  secure  and  idle  at  home,  never  en- 
quiring after  Him.  Or  rather  what  a  far  worse  shame  is  it 
for  us,  which  be  Christians  now,  when  the  heathen  that 
dwelt  at  the  world's  end,  and  had  so  hard  a  journey,  would 
come  to  serve  and  worship  Christ ;  and  we,  that  dwell  even 
at  the  next  door,  will  scarce  take  the  pains  to  do  it,  nay  if 

1  Kings  6.  our  chambers  look  into  God's  house,  as  we  read  the  king's 
entry  was  turned  into  the  temple,  yet  we  stir  but  at  our 
leisure;  the  least  business,  if  it  be  but  a  little  more  desire  of 
sleep,  will  hinder  us ;  and  if  we  be  seated  but  a  little  way  off 

1  Kings  once,  why  then  Jeroboam's  counsel  is  very  good,  it  is  too 
much  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem.  These  Wise  Men  here  shall  not 
have  our  company  by  the  mountains  and  deserts,  we  are  more 
tenderly  brought  up ;  by  them  ?  no !  not  through  a  shower 
of  rain  (nay  if  it  rains  we  will  not  go  to  church ;)  our  ordi- 
nary sleep,  or  the  beams  of  the  sun  will  keep  some  of  us  in, 
so  dainty  we  are  that  we  cannot  endure  it  truly ;  and  if  no 
body  else  will  go,  Christ  may  comfort  Himself  with  His 
Mother's  arms,  for  we  have  neither  worship,  nor  gold,  nor 
frankincense,  nothing  for  Him.    A  greater  offence,  sure  then, 

Mat.  12.      vve  use  to  make  of  it.    These  men  of  the  East  shall  rise  up  in 
42.  .  ^ 

Mat. 8. 11.  judgment,  nay  many  more  shall  come  from  the  East,  and 

from   the  West,  and   sit   with  Christ  one   day,  to   tell  us 

as  much. 

But  as  we  go  along,  there  is  another  yet  that  meets  us,  to 

ask,  why  from  the  East?   there  were  Gentiles  in  the  north 

and  south  too,  why  not  from  them  as  well,  but  from  the  East 

alone  ?  Marry  best  of  all  from  hence,  it  suits  well  to  make 

Gen.  3. 24.  even  with  Eve  in  Paradise,  that  as  from  the  East  came  the 
first  news  of  sin,  so  from  thence  should  come  the  first  news 
of  saving  us  from  sin ;  and  to  make  even  with  Balaam  too. 

Num.  23.  that  as  he  came  a  montibus  Orientis,  to  curse  God's  people, 
so  these  Magi  (that  some  say^  were  his  scholars  far  removed) 

*  Alii  vero  dicunt  illos  fuisse  ne-  vam,  intellexerunt   regem   natum,  et 

potes  Balaam,  quod  magis  est  creden-  venerunt.  —  Remig.  in  Th,  Aquin.  Aur. 

duni ;   Balaam  euim  inter  csetera  quae  Cat.       Et   sic   hanc    stellam    futuram 

prophetavit,    dixit,    Orietur    Stella   ex  vaticinio  Balaam  noverant,  cujus  erant 

Jacob.     lUi  vero   habentes  lianc  pro-  successores. — Hieron.  ibid. 
phetiam,  mox  ut  viderunt  stellam  no- 


Why  the  Magi  came  'from  the  East.'  21 , 

should  come  ah  Oriente  too,  to  bless  all  the  generations  of  the 
Gentiles  after  them.  And  indeed,  from  whence  should  they 
come  but  from  the  East?  Oinnes  qui  veniunt  ad  Christum, 
saith  Remigius,  must  come  ab  Ipso^'  from  Him  first;  now 
He  is  the  true  day-spring, — Oriens  nomen  Ejus  &c. — as 
Zecharias  speaks.  Zech.6.l2. 

Then  this  was  the  beginning  of  our  bliss,  the  very  morning 
of  our  happiness;  and  therefore,  as  the  morning  and  day 
begin,  so  began  that,  ab  Oriente,  from  the  East  both ;  and 
then  because  the  sun  follows  the  day  in  the  East  too,  it  was 
most  fit  that  such  as  brought  us  news  of  the  Sun  of  Righte- 
ousness, the  light  that  lightens  every  man  which  cometh  into  Job.  i.  9. 
the  world,  should  come  from  thence  too'^.  And  if  ye  mark  it, 
it  was  the  most  glorious  Sun  that  arose  here  of  the  two ; — 
the  sun  in  the  firmament  being  but  a  created  body,  this,  He 
that  made  that  so,  that  to  lighten  the  body,  and  this  to 
illuminate  the  mind.  And  now  since  we  have  begun  to  com- 
pare Him  with  the  sun,  we  will  make  it  good  every  way;  for 
as  He  rose  here  in  the  East  among  the  Gentiles,  so  He  set 
in  the  West  among  the  Jews.  [And  Jerusalem  may  well  be 
called  occidens,  (says  one  %)  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  went 
down  there ;  or  occidens  either,  an  ye  will,  for  besides  that, 
it  killed  the  Prophets,  and  stoned  them  that  were. sent  unto  Mat.  23. 

37 

her:  at  last  it  killed  the  great  Prophet — even  the  Son  of 
God  Himself*.]    And  by  this  time  we  are  come  to  Jerusalem. 

*  Behold  there  came  Wise  Men  from  the  East  to  Jerusa- 
lem;' so  their  coming  was  like  the  sun's  too,  from  east  to 
west,  and  west  was  Jerusalem  right,  for  it  was  full  of  dark- 
ness, they  had  almost  lost  their  light,  it  was  even  a-going 
out,  and  ergo  time  for  a  Sun  to  rise  out  of  the  East,  which 
might  give  light  to  them  that  were  sitting  in  the  dark  west, 
the  shadow  of  death. 

But  to  let  pass  the  allegory,  (which  indeed  should  never  be 

y  Sed   tunc  quaerendum    est  quare  '  Merito   ab   oriente  venerunt   qui 

Evangelista   dicat   eos   ab  oriente  ve-  Solem    Justitiae    novum    nobis    ortum 

nisse?    Quod  ideo  est,  quia  ab  ilia  re-  annunciant,  laetisque  rumoribus  totum 

gione  venerunt  quae  in  orientali  parte  mundum    illuininant.  —  Ludolph.    de 

Judaeis  posita  est.    Pulclire  autem  ipsi  Saxonia,  in  Vita  Cbristi,  cap.  xi. 

ab  oriente  venisse  dicuntur;  quia  om-  •  See  Barradii  Harm.  lib.  x.  cap.  xii. 

nes  qui  ad  Dominum  veniunt,  ab  Ipso  **  Tbe  passage  here  enclosed  within 

et  per  Ipsum  veniunt.     Ipse  enim  est  brackets  is  marked  in  the  original  as 

oriens,    secundum     illud,     Ecce    vir,  if  for  omission. 
Oriens  nomen  ejus. — Remig.  ibid. 


22  Why  the  Magi  came  to  Jerusalem. 

SEEM,  strained  too  far,)  they  came  to  Jerusalem;  but  why  thither? 
■"■■        Christ  was  at  Bethlehem.     Oh,  but  this  was  the  great  city, 


Ps.  48.  2.  '  the  city  of  the  great  King,'  and  most  like  they  should  find 
the  King  they  sought  for  there.  Yet  there  He  was  not,  and 
I  told  you  the  reason  before ;  then  why  came  they  ?  Marry, 
for  many  reasons;  there  was  first  the  Law  and  the  Prophets, 
and  God  will  have  them  looked  in,  even  in  the  very  search  of 
His  Son; — to  let  us  know  the  true  way  to  Him,  and  to 
Job.  6.  39.  eternal  life,  (as  Christ  Himself  speaks,)  was  by  the  Scriptures. 
Then  there  was  the  chief  seat  of  the  laud,  whither  God  would 
have  the  news  of  the  Messias  brought,  rather  than  to  any 
other  place,  that  from  thence  all  the  regions  round  about 
might  take  notice  of  it ;  for  if  they  had  come  to  Joppa  or 
Jericho  only,  there  might  have  been  some  excuses  made,  that 
we  on  this  side  Jordan  had  not  heard  of  Him,  but  from  Jeru- 
salem every  body  must  needs  take  knowledge  of  it.  And 
then  again  here  were  the  Ipses  of  the  time,  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  and  masters  of  the  Law,  that  would  have  scorned 
to  have  been  told  of  their]  new-born  King  by  a  company  of 
silly  shepherds,  or  to  have  searched  the  Prophets  for  them. 
And  therefore  it  was  fit  the  princes  and  great  men  of  the 
East,  since  they  were  now  a-coming,  should  go  by  the  way 
to  Jerusalem  to  bring  these  master-Jews  the  news  of  their 
King ;  for  how  contemptible  soever  the  shepherds'  relation 
would  have  been,  yet  when  such  men  came  as  the  world 
admired  for  their  wisdom  and  greatness,  and  came  from  far 
too,  from  the  East,  not  likely  to  come  in  vain,  it  was  like 
they  would  receive  their  testimony.  But  whatsoever  a  man 
would  think,  yet  we  see  that  they  believed  nothing,  not  one 
of  them  would  go  to  Bethlehem  to  worship  with  the  Magi ; 
that  their  coming  now  to  Jerusalem  was  to  condemn  and 
shame  the  Jews,  even  the  best  of  them,  when  these  should 
take  such  pains,  come  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  the 
King  of  the  Jews,  and  the  Jews  themselves  take  no  heed  of 
Him,  when  these  heathen  men  should,  with  the  light  of  one 
star  see  Christ  was  come  in  the  flesh,  and  they,  who  had 
a  continual  light  among  them,  the  Law  and  the  Prophets, 
should  be  so  blind  as  not  to  see  Him ;  nay,  and  when  they 
did  see  Him  there  and  shewed  Him  to  these  men,  as  we  see 
a  httle  after  my  text,  yet  could  not  go  along  with  them  to 


Why  the  Magi  came  to  Jerusalem.  23 

acknowledge  Him.  But  yet,  as  ill  as  they  were,  God  would 
have  the  Magi  to  come  that  way,  for  to  teach  us  one  lesson 
more,  and  that  is  that,  omnia  non  manifestantur  omnibus,  and 
therefore  they  must  come  this  way  to  ask  what  they  knew 
not,  where  Christ  was  born.  In  the  search  of  holy  things 
we  stand  in  need  of  great  help,  and  since  we  cannot  know 
all  of  ourselves,  we  must  learn  one  of  another,  the  Jews  of 
the  Magi,  that  there  was  a  King  born,  and  they  of  the  Jews 
where  He  should  be  born.  And  last  of  all,  to  shew  that  this 
was  the  time  when  the  Jew  and  Gentile  should  come  to- 
gether, and  be  no  longer  parted;  but  since  the  King  of 
Peace  was  come,  that  they  should  enter  into  peace  too,  teach 
one  another  the  way  to  Christ.  And  therefore  this  was  the 
right  way  they  took,  the  way  of  peace,  the  way  that  Christ 
would  have  them.  Who  is  The  Way  Himself;  so  they  came  Job.  14.  6. 
from  the  East  to  Jerusalem,  the  '  city  of  peace'  too,  and  this 
was  right  to  guide  their  feet  in  the  way  of  peace. 

And  now  we  have  followed  them  thus  far,  and  are  come 
along  with  them  to  Jerusalem,  fain  would  we  see  what  they 
do  there,  and  so  go  along  with  them  to  Bethlehem  too.  But 
it  is  even  fallen  out  as  I  told  you  I  feared  before,  it  is  grown 
late  before  we  can  go  any  further,  and  therefore  best  staying 
here,  for  if  we  should  go  on,  there  be  so  many  steps  to  be 
taken  in  the  way,  that  the  night  would  overtake  us  ere  we 
should  get  to  the  text's  end.  But  all  the  day  must  not  be 
spent  in  preaching  ;  and  therefore  since  we  are  at  Jerusalem, 
the  city  of  peace,  crying  *  Glory  be  to  God  on  high,  and 
peace  on  earth,*  let  us  take  the  peace  of  God  along  with  us 
and  so  depart  for  this  time. 

Now  the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding, 
keep  our  hearts  and  minds  in  the  knowledge  and  love  of  God, 
and  of  His  Son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  That  was  this  day  made 
known  unto  us,  and  the  blessing  of  God  Almighty,  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  among  us,  and  remain  with 
us  always.     Amen. 


SERMON  11. 


A  FUNERAL  SERMON  ^ 

AT  ST.  martin's  IN  THE  FIELDS,  ON  THE  SEVENTEENTH  OP  JUNE,  A.D. 
MDCXXIII.  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF  MRS.  DOKOTHY  HOLMES  ^  SISTER  TO  THE 
BIGHT  BEVEREND  FATHER  IN  GOD,  THE  LORD  BISHOP  OF  DURHAM. 


SEEM.       We  are  come  hither  to  perform  a  double  duty  to  this  our 

'■ —  sister  deceased,  to  commit  her  body  to  the  ground,  the  first, 

and  to  commend  her  good  name  and  memory  to  the  world, 
the  second.  While  she  was  alive,  she  had  her  soul,  her  body, 
and  her  good  name ;  but  as  for  her  soul,  God  has  taken  it  to 
Himself,  but  these  two  He  has  left  behind  with  us  to  preserve 
and  lay  up  for  Him  while  •=  His  own  coming  at  the  last  day. 
I  will  speak  somewhat  of  both. 

And  though  her  body  be  now  to  us  as  all  other  dead  bodies 
are,  brought  hither  by  us  to  be  decently  interred  in  the  earth ; 
yet — because  the  reason  of  the  Churches'  ceremony,  as  we  too 
well  know,  perhaps,  being  made  but  a  matter  of  course  and 
common  custom  only — we  will  tell  you  now  once  for  all  why 
we  do  it,  not  only  to  her,  but  to  all  other  that  depart,  as  she 
hath  done,  in  the  faith  of  Christ. 

The  Church  then  would  have  us  consider,  that  as  Grod  hath 
taught  us  to  put  a  difference  between  the  soul  of  a  beast  and 
the  spirit  of  a  man,  (for  the  soul  of  a  beast  goes  downward  to 
the  earth  from  whence  it  came,  but  the  spirit  of  a  man  returns 

'  This  Sermon,  after  being  consider-  1837  to  the  British  Museum  by  John 

ably  altered  and  abridged,  was  subse-  Holmes,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  one  of  the  as- 

quently  used  upon  an  occasion  nearly  sistant  Librarians    of  that   institution, 

similar.     See  Appendix,  No.  2.  The    Dedication    however    makes    no 

*>  It  is  probable    that  the  Dorothy  mention    of  relationship,    although    it 

Holmes  here  mentioned  was  sister  to  recites    the   many   favours    which  had 

Bishop  Neile,  and  that  she  was  the  wife  been  conferred  upon  the  writer  by  the 

of  William  Holmes  mentioned  in  his  Bishop. 

will  as  his  brother.    A  Walter  Holmes  "=  While,  i.e.  until,  as  in  Macbetli  iii.l. 

wrote  a  '  Septimana  Epigrammatum,'  We  will  keep  ourself 

dedicated  to  the  Bishop,  of  which  the  While  supper-time  alone  ;  while 

unpublished    MS.    was    presented   in  then,  God  bless  you. 


Death,  a  sleep  to  the  Christian.  25 

to  God  That  gave  it,  as  the  Wise  Man  speaks,)  so  likewise  Eccl.  3. 21. 
He  hath  taught  us  to  put  a  diflference  between  their  bodies 
too.   The  bodies  of  other  creatures  consume  away  and  perish, 
and  shall  never  be  heard  on  again,  after  they  are  once  dead. 
But  our  bodies  are  not  so,  for  though  the  soul  be  now  gone 
from  it,  yet  one  day  it  shall  return  to  it  and  make  it  stand 
up  from  the  grave.     When  we  sleep  you  see  we  rise  again, 
and  this  death  of  the  body  is  but  a  little  longer  sleep  than 
ordinary,  which  is  the  reason  that  we  read  so  often  in  Scrip- 
ture how  the  kings  of  Israel  slept  with  their  fathers.     Nay,  See 2  Sam. 
it  is  but  a  rest,  saith  David,  a  rest  from  the  troubles  and  i  Kings 
cares  of  this  world,  and  not  a  bare  rest,  and  no  more,  but  j^  26. 20. 
a  rest  in  hope :  *  ray  flesh  shall  rest  in  hope,'  saith  the  Pro-  Jg^^®^"  ^" 
phet,  in  hope  of  being  raised  up  again  at  the  last  day,  to  Ps.ie.Q.cf. 
a  far  better  state  than  ever  it  was  in  in  this  world ;  which    '^  *  " 
hope  other  creatures  liave  not. 

The  diflference  then  being  so  great,  since  it  is  not  God's 
pleasure  that  our  bodies  should  be  neglected  and  cast  away, 
as  the  bodies  of  otlier  dead  creatures  are  '^,  to  become  dung 
for  the  earth,  and  to  have  our  bones  lay  scattered  abroad  to 
the  sight  of  the  sun :  it  was  the  Prophet's  complaint,  that  Ps.  79. 2. 
they  gave  the  dead  bodies  of  Ilis  servants  to  be  meat  unto 
the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  the  flesh  of  Ilis  saints. unto  the 
beasts  of  the  land  •=,  that  their  blood  ran  about  like  water, 
and  that  there  was  none  to  bury  them.  And  that  being  such 
a  kind  of  barbarous  inhumanity,  God  and  the  Church  have 
taken  order  for  it,  that  when  His  servants  are  gathered  to 
their  fathers,  their  souls  gone  up  to  heaven,  there  should  be 
care  taken  to  have  their  bodies  laid  up  with  honour,  seemly, 

and  decently,  in  the  bed  of  the  earth,  while •  it  shall  please'  'until,' aa 
^    J  ,  1         •  •  before. 

Ijod  to  awaken  it  again. 

In  the  earth?   nay,  that  is  not  enough;   for  then  what 

need  we  to  make  all  this  solemn  procession  to  the  church ; 

we  have  earth  enough  every  where  about  our  houses,  and  we 

^  Orig.  contra  Celsum,  lib.  viii.  edit  Zre  ol  tV  Tifi^v  tov  <rd>ixaTo$,  tvda.  \o- 

0pp.  de  la  Rue,  torn.  i.  p.  764.    y^vx'^"  7'"^    ^^xh    ifixritTf,    irfincTTevKaai,    Kal 

\oyiK^v  Tifiav  fidfT]!/  fiij,(7i  tafxev,  Kal  to.  in'  avroy  <pa(Tt  Sf^dfx.evoi'  KaAut;  dyovt- 

ravTTis  opyava  fiera  Tiftrjs  irapaSiSofai  ffafifVTjf  Sta  toiovtov  ovpavuv  i^nx^*'. 

Kara  ra  pfvofiia-fifya  ra<pTJ'   &^iov  yap  '  Noii  patieinur  figuram  et  tiginen- 

rh  TTJs  \oyiKrjs  ifi/x^s    olKijTTjpiov  fiij  turn  Dei  feris  ac  volucribus  in  praedam 

Trapa^piiTTflv   arifius,   Kal    iis   trvx^",  jacere,   sed  reddamus   id   terrae,  unde 

ofi-oius  r<f  Twv  d\6yfuv   koX  /loAtffTo,  ortura  est. — Lactatit.  Instit.  vi.  12. 


26  Commendation  of  the  deceased. 

SEEM,  might  lay  our  dead  bodies  there.     But  it  is  not  God's  will 
that  our  bodies  should  be  buried  as  an  ass  is  buried,  in  the 


Jer.  22. 19. 

common  fields;  but  here  is  a  place  chosen  out  and  dedicated 

to  that  purpose ;  and  therefore  Abraham  would  not  bury  his 

dead  in  the  corn  fields,  nor  among  the  Hethites,  but  we  see 

Gen.  25.     he  purchased  the  plain  of  Mamre  to  lay  the  bodies  of  God's 

31 '32,        servants  up  in  peace  together.     And  so  after  his  example 

has  the  Church  ordered  amongst  us,  that  are  of  the  seed  of 

SeeBingh.  Abraham,  and  accordingly  are  we  met  together  to  commit 

Beqq.  the  dead  body  of  this  His  servant,  our  sister  departed,  to 

her  hallowed  grave  in  peace,  and  in  hope  of  the  glorious 

resurrection  hereafter.     That,  for  the  first  duty  to  her. 

Now  as  there  is  a  difference  betwixt  men  and  other  crea- 
tures, for  their  bodies,  so  there  is  a  difference  betwixt  men 
themselves  too,  for  preserving  their  good  name;  which  is 
our  second  duty  to  be  performed  towards  her. 

There  are  indeed  those  that  die  and   perish,   and   have 
nothing  worth  the  remembering  left  behind  them,  people 
that  are  clean  forgotten  and  out  of  mind  as  soon  as  they  are 
gone,  as  though  they  never  were.     But  yet  there  are  others 
Eccius.      which  are  honourable  in  their  generations,  as  Ecclesiasticus 
■  ■  speaks,  and  well  reported  of  in  their  times,  which  have  left 

a  name  behind  them,  that  when  they  are  gone  their  praise 
may  still  be  spoken  of  and  their  names  be  had  in  continual 
remembrance.  Among  which  company  we  esteem  this  our 
sister  deceased. 

And  to  make  good  what  we  say,  we  will  a  little  view  her 
life  and  death ;  by  both  which  men  are  sufificiently  tried 
what  they  are. 

She  was  born  of  an  honest  and  religious  parentage,  which, 
as  it  was  not  obscure  then,  so  it  has  been  since,  by  the  worth 
of  them  which  were  nearest  allied  unto  her,  made  honourable 
to  the  world.  But  howsoever  that  had  gone,  being  good, 
she  was  great  enough,  virtue  being  the  best  thing  to  measure 
greatness  by,  when  all  is  done. 

Her  education  was  suitable  to  her  birth,  such  as  befitted 
her  in  all  honesty  and  piety;  and  though  there  be  many 
alive  that  can  bear  witness  to  it,  yet  the  best  and  surest 
testimony  of  that  are  the  fruits  that  she  shewed  of  it  in  the 
ensuing  course  of  her  time  afterwards. 


The  education  of  herself  and  her  children.  27 

Her  discretion  and  understanding  grew  as  fast  as  her  age ; 
and  in  her  discourse,  her  apprehensions  of  any  thing  pro- 
pounded, and  her  answers  to  it,  were  many  times  noted  to 
be  more  than  ordinary ;  of  such  a  strong  and  vigorous  spirit 
she  was. 

Of  the  innocency  of  her  life,  they  of  her  continual  acquaint- 
ance and  [who]  knew  her  behaviour  can  generally  affirm  that 
as  she  was  commendable  for  many  good  things,  so  she  was 
careful  to  keep  herself  from  all  blemish  of  vice,  and  used  the 
best  means  she  could  to  keep  always  an  uudefiled  conscience. 

And  as  of  herself,  so  she  was  sedulous  and  very  affec- 
tionate in  the  education  of  her  children,  that  they  might 
serve  God  and  the  commonwealth,  some  in  one  course  of  life, 
and  some  in  another ;  and  one  of  them  to  her  great  comfort 
and  content  she  lived  to  see  pass  two  degrees  of  schools  in 
the  University,  howsoever  it  pleased  God  to  take  him  away 
sooner  than  she  expected.  There  are  now,  that  neither  of 
themselves,  nor  of  their  oflFspring  neither,  have  any  regard 
at  all,  but  let  them  run  riot,  they  care  not  which  way,  and 
if  they  will  prove  good,  so  it  is,  let  nature  work,  and  so  let 
grace  work  too,  an  it  will,  they  will  not  force  them  to  it,  nor 
it  shall  not  grieve  them  much  whether  they  do  or  no.  She 
was  of  another  mind,  so  careful  to  have  them  do  well,  that  it 
grieved  her  when  she  heard  of  any  other  did  ill. 

She  had  not  much,  and  yet  she  was  so  well  esteemed  as 
she  wanted  not,  but  always  laid  in  that  sort  as  befitted  her 
best;  and  yet  though  her  stock  was  not  great,  nevertheless 
out  of  her  little  which  she  had,  she  would  not  let  them  want 
her  bounty  that  had  less  than  she,  being  noted  to  be  so 
charitable,  as  that  the  sight  of  any  poor  creature  would 
make  her  stand  still  to  give  her  alms;  and  besides  what 
love  she  shewed  to  many  others  at  home  in  that  kind, 
those  that  lived  with  her,  and  knew  what  her  actions  were, 
can  give  an  ample  testimony. 

Her  attire  was  sober  and  decent,  and  she  took  no  great 
care  to  make  much  of  that  body  which  she  knew  she  must 
one  day  part  withal,  to  the  grave.  Marry,  now,  for  her  soul, 
as  we  all  should  be,  that  she  was  a  little  more  careful  on. 
I  will  tell  you  how :  myself  can  witness  that  her  devotions 
she  daily  observed,  and  when  sickness  did  not  hinder  her. 


28  Ser  afflictions  through  life. 

SEEM,  offered  up  her  Morning  and  her  Evening  Sacrifice  accord- 

'■ ing  to  the  order  of  our  Church  in  the  pubHc  place  of  God's 

service,  in  His  hallowed  temple,  the  most  kindly  place  for 
that  purpose  that  can  be;  and  when  she  could  not  come 
forth  by  reason  of  her  infirmities,  what  her  private  devo- 
tions were,  you  may  guess  by  that. 

Indeed  it  pleased  God  to  visit  her  with  many  crosses  and 
infirmities  of  this  life,  but  they  came  not  to  her  soul,  they 
did  but  touch  her  body.  And  no  strange  thing  neither,  it  is 
God's  wont  to  do  so  to  them  that  are  dearest  to  Him ;  He 
will  not  suffer  them  that  are  His  to  feed  like  flesh-worms 
upon  the  pleasures  of  this  life,  but  keeps  them  to  hard 
measure  here  that  they  may  have  their  fill  hereafter.  It  is 
St.  Gregory's  observation,  those  oxen  that  are  designed  to 
the  slaughter-house  are  suffered  to  run  and  range  at  their 
will  in  the  pleasant  pastures,  and  are  put  to  no  labour  at  all ; 
but  those  that  are  appointed  to  live,  are  put  into  the  plough 
and  to  the  yoke,  and  are  beaten  and  whipped  every  day.  So 
the  less  crosses  and  infirmities  upon  us,  marry,  the  worse 
sign ;  when  we  have  wealth,  and  riches,  and  the  world  at 
will,  it  is  a  danger  but  we  shall  run  headlong  to  perdition, 
and  fat  ourselves  up  for  the  slaughter  only.  But  when  God 
holds  His  scourge  of  tribulation  over  us,  and  whips  our 
bodies,  it  will  make  us  look  to  our  souls  the  better;  we 
shall  still  be  kept  in,  and  be  the  more  careful  of,  His  service. 

But  for  all  these  troubles,  she  was  content  to  bear  wliat 
God  laid  upon  her,  even  to  her  death.  And  when  her  infir- 
mity grew  so  strong  upon  her  as  she  betook  herself  to  her 
chamber  and  her  bed,  that  afterwards  she  breathed  her  last 
in,  her  conclusion  was  not  different  from  her  premises,  nor 
her  death  from  her  life. 

Being  warned  of  ber  danger  she  shewed  no  dismay,  as 
carrying  in  her  conscience  the  safe-conduct  of  innocency ; 
and  being  not  in  love  with  her  own  desires,  she  committed 
herself  to  the  good-will  and  pleasure  of  God.  Her  prepara- 
tion to  her  end  was  by  humble  contrition,  and  hearty  Con- 
fession of  her  sins ;  which  when  she  had  done,  she  received 
the  benefit  of  Absolution,  according  to  God's  ordinance  and 
the  religious  institution  of  our  Church;  a  thing  that  the 
world  looks  not  after  now,  as  if  Confession  and  Absolution 


Her  last  sickness.  29 

were  some  strange  superstitious  things  among  us,  which  yet 
the  Church  has  taken  such  care  to  preserve,  and  especially  to 
be  preparatives  for  death. 

When  they  had  given  her  physic  for  her  body,  it  presently 
put  her  in  mind  that  there  was  other  physic  to  be  taken  for 
her  soul ;  and  so  she  presently  sent  unto  me,  who  in  my 
priestly  function  was  ready  to  attend,  to  have  the  blessed 
Sacrament  given  her,  which  she  received  from  me  with  such 
gladness  of  her  soul,  and  with  such  humility  and  reverence 
of  her  body  (though  she  might  hardly  endure  it  by  reason 
of  her  infirmity)  that  we  might  easily  understand  she  knew 
very  well  what  a  great  Majesty  she  was  then  to  adore,  and 
what  admirable  and  mysterious  benefits  she  was  to  receive. 
Such  was  her  devotion  upon  the  first  falling  into  her  last 
and  fatal  sickness. 

Now  the  common  guise  of  the  world  goes  another  way  ; 
as  soon  as  we  feel  ourselves  sick,  presently  post  away  all  the 
servants  we  have,  this  way  and  that  way  for  the  physicians 
of  our  body  to  come  and  help  us';  but  for  the  physicians  of 
our  souls,  them  we  never  dream  on,  as  if  they  would  do  well 
enough  without  any  physic  at  all,  which  yet  (God  knows) 
want  it  ten  times  more  than  our  bodies  do,  and  are  sicker 
a  great  deal  than  they  be. 

Well,  when  she  was  strengthened  with  this  heavenly  and 
spiritual  repast,  she  set  herself  to  combat  with  death.  And 
whereas  others  use  to  be  so  much  afraid  to  meddle  with  it, 
she  was  not  one  whit  dismayed;  but  shewing  her  willingness 
to  be  dissolved  and  to  be  with  Christ,  often  in  mine  own 
hearing  desired  that  death  would  come  to  her  to  bring  her 
out  of  these  miseries  to  the  joys  of  heaven.  Nor  was  she  so 
disposed  as  many  are,  call  for  death  to  make  us  believe  that 
they  are  willing  to  die,  and  then  wish  it  gone  again  when  it 
comes;  like  as  Laertius  tells  us  the  story  of  Antisthenes, 
a  philosopher,  that  led  his  life  well,  and  was  loth  to  part  with 
it,  if  he  knew  how  to  have  kept  it,  though  he   seemed   to 

'  Si   intemperate  cibus  sumtus  aut  foro,  omnes  calumniae,  omnia  lucra  in 

immoderate  potus  acceptus  levem  cor-  periculis  corporis  conquiescunt.     Cur- 

pori    febriculam   concitarit,  dejicimus  ritur  ad  medicos ;   et  pro  remedio  pro- 

animum,  affligimur,  suspirannis;  nulla  mittuntur  munera,  aurum,  argentum. 

cura  tunc    est  seculi,  nulla  villarum,  — S.  Hieron.  (?)   Epist.  8.  p.  42.  edit, 

nemo  de  patrimonio  cogitat,  nemo  de  Ant  1579. 


30  Her  preparation  for  death. 

SERM,  others  to  be  desirous  to  be  rid  of  it.     The  man  being  tied  to 


II. 


his  bed  by  a  grievous  disease,  was  visited  by  Diogenes,  that 
knowing  the  nature  of  him  very  well,  had  taken  a  sword 
with  him  under  his  gown.  As  soon  as  ever  he  comes  in, 
Antisthenes  looks  upon  him,  and  cries  out  for  pity,  *0 
God,'  says  he,  '  who  will  deliver  me  from  hence  !  *  '  Marry, 
that  will  I,'  says  Diogenes  presently,  and  so  shews  him  the 
sword  in  his  hand,  *  this  shall  do  it.'  '  Oh  God,'  says 
Antisthenes,  'no,  no,  I  mean  from  my  pains,  and  not  from 
my  life;'  he  was  loth  to  part  with  that,  whatsoever  he  said 8. 
So  Esop  tells  us  of  an  old  man  that  being  laden  with  a  great 
burden  and  fallen  into  a  ditch  and  lying  there  a  long  time 
without  hope,  at  last  calls  aloud  for  Death.  Well,  Death 
comes  to  him,  and  bids  him  go  along  with  him ;  '  O  no,'  says 
he,  *  I  call  thee  to  help  me  up  with  my  burden,  that  I  may 
return ;'  he  was  loth  to  stand  to  his  word  too  ^\  But  for 
her,  now,  her  willingness  that  she  had  professed  at  first,  she 
continued  to  her  last  day;  and  when  death  came,  it  was 
welcome  to  her;  she  made  no  reluctation  at  all.  And  though 
she  had  sore  pangs  upon  her  by  reason  of  her  long  sickness, 
yet  God  gave  her  such  patience  to  endure  it  as  it  was  almost 
a  marvel  to  us  that  saw  it.  During  the  time  of  her  sickness, 
which  was  a  long  while  together,  she  offered  up  with  us  the 
continual  sacrifice  of  prayer,  to  God,  both  morning  and 
evening  and  at  noon-day,  besides  her  continual  ejaculations. 
"Ob.  Jun.  She  made  open  profession  of  her  faith,  and  she  died  a  true 

14  "  MS 

member  of  the  Church,  and  the  child  of  God.  She  enjoyed 
her  judgment  as  long  as  she  breathed,  and  when  her  tongue 
could  speak  no  longer,  her  thoughts  offered  up  her  last  de- 
votions ;  and  so,  while  the  penitential  Psalms  were  read  over 
her^,  she  eftsoons  went  to  God :  and  as  one  rather  fallen 
asleep  than  dying,  she  most  happily  took  her  leave  of  all 
mortal  miseries.  Such  was  the  life,  and  such  was  the  death 
of  this  our  sister ;  both  so  full  of  comfort  that  it  may  be  a 
sufiicient  lenitive  to  the  grief  of  any  of  her  friends  that  have 
lost  her,  and  if  that  be  not  enough,  we  will  have  a  text  fitted 
for  it  that  shall. 

K  Diog,  Laert.  p.  376.  edit.  Casaub.  of  his  edition  of  Longinus,  p.  252,  8vo. 

8vo.  apud  Stepban.  1594.  Oxen.  1708. 

''  See  the   fable  Ttpwv  Ka\  Oavaros,  '  See   Cosin's   Devotions,  '  Prayers 

in  i^sopi  Fab.  edit.  Hudson,  at  the  end  at  the  Hour  of  Death.' 


The  subject  introduced.  31 

2  Cor.  5.  1,  2.  For  we  know  that  if  our  earthly  house 
of  this  tabernacle  be  dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of 
God,  an  house  not  made  with  hands,  but  eternal  in  the 
heavens. 

For  which  we  sigh  and  groan. 

If  any  man  has  set  his  heart  here  upon  these  things  below, 
and  is  afraid  to  part  with  his  life,  as  not  knowing  where  to 
get  the  like  again  when  this  is  gone,  St.  Paul  comes  to  in- 
struct him  here,  and  to  inform  his  knowledge  a  little  better : 
to  tell  him  that  he  is  afraid  (as  the  Psalmist  speaks)  where  Pa.  53. 6. 
no  fear  is,  and  that  the  loss  of  this  life  is  no  such  fearful 
matter  as  men  take  it  for,  no  undoing  of  him,  but  an 
infinite  advantage  to  him,  bringing  him  to  a  life  so  full 
of  joy  and  happiness,  that  this  present  life,  as  St  Paul  Rom.  8. 18. 
speaks  but  a  little  before,  is  not  worth  the  naming  in  re- 
spect of  that. 

And  that  this  may  appear  to  be  true,  he  has  drawn  the 
pictures  of  them  both  out  here  to  the  life,  made  us  a  descrip- 
tion of  either  life,  of  this  which  we  have  now,  and  of  that 
which  we  shall  have  by  death,  that  we  might  judge  ourselves 
which  of  the  two  is  most  to  be  desired.  But  he  describes  them 
in  such  a  fashion  that  men  that  are  not  acquainted  with  his 
spirit,  will  wonder  what  he  means.  For  whereas  the  world 
is  wont  to  paint  us  out  the  pleasures  of  this  life  in  such  an 
amiable  form,  full  of  bravery  and  state,  and  make  us  pictures 
of  death  in  such  a  pitiful  shape,  with  a  few  naked  bones  knit 
together,  that  it  would  scare  a  man  to  look  upon  it,  ye  see 
he  goes  quite  another  way,  gives  us  a  picture  of  this  life  that 
has  nothing  but  misery  and  horror  in  it,  and  a  description 
of  death  that  would  entice  a  man's  eyes  to  look  upon  it,  so 
fair  and  beautiful  it  is ;  the  one  compared  to  a  poor  cottage, 
which  every  one  passes  by  without  looking  on  it ;  and  the 
other  fo  a  fair,  rich,  building,  that  everybody  stays  to  gaze 
at  aud  admire.  [JSo  we  read  of  an  old  philosopher,  Egesias^, 
that  had  such  a  dexterity  this  way,  as  when  he  painted  the 
portraiture  of  this  life,  he  did  it  in  such  a  rueful  form  as  all 
the  people  ran  away  from  it  when  they  saw  it  j  and  when  he 

^  The  passage  here  enclosed  within      as  if  intended  to  be  omitted, 
brackets  has  been  so  marked  by  Cosin,  ''  See  Cicer.  Qusest.  Tusc.  1.  34. 


32  Division  of  the  text. 

SEEM,  made  the  picture   of  death,  he  did  it  with  such  a  smiling 

' countenance,  as  every  body  that  came  to  look  on  it  fell  in 

love  with  it,  and  began  to  be  weary  of  this  miserable  life, 
they  would  needs  desire  to  live  no  longer.] 

Such  another  thing  it  is  that  St.  Paul  would  work  in  us 
here,  a  contempt  of  this  life  in  regard  to  the  life  to  come, 
and  a  willingness  to  welcome  death,  (look  it  as  it  will,)  in 
regard  to  the  great  happiness  that  it  brings  with  it.  Will 
you  look  upon  the  text,  and  there,  as  I  tell  you,  ye  shall 
see  the  description,  first,  of  the  poor  and  miserable  estate 
of  man  in  this  world,  and  then  the  description  of  that  per- 
fect felicity  which  he  shall  enjoy  after  death  in  the  world 
to  come.  And  these  two,  which  be  the  general  parts  of 
the  text,  are  opposed  in  four  several  antitheses. 

The  first,  that  this  life  and  this  body  of  ours  is  earthly, 
*  our  earthly  house ; '  and  that,  heavenly,  '  eternal  in  the 
heavens,' 

The  second,  that  this  is  'a  tabernacle,'  a  slight,  flitting 
house;  and  that,  'a  building,'  a  strong  lasting  house,  *we 
have  a  building.' 

The  third,  that  this  is  a  tabernacle  of  our  own :  and  that, 
'  a  building  of  God ; '  so  much  the  better. 

And  the  fourth,  that  this  is  a  house  which  will  fall,  and 
must  be  '  dissolved ; '  and  that,  a  house  which  will  stand  for 
ever,  and  is  'eternal  in  the  heavens,' 

And  all  this,  not  out  of  any  opinion,  or  guessing  at  it,  but 
upon  certain  knowledge  and  assurance;  'we  know'  it,  saith 
St.  Paul,  which  produces  the  effect  of  all,  a  longing  and 
a  desiring  after  it,  'for  which  we  sigh  and  groan.'  And 
these  be  the  parts  of  the  text.     Of  these,  &c. 

THE     PRAYER. 

I  begin,  as  the  text  begins,  with  the  certain  knowledge  and 
assurance  of  all  this  felicity  after  death.  'We  know,'  It 
is  the  confidence  that  we  Christians  have,  and  sure  we  have 
no  small  privilege  by  it  above  other  men :  for  all  the  natural 
discourse  of  the  world  will  not  reach  to  this  'know,'  but  it 
is  the  Spirit  of  God  that  infuses  it  into  us.  The  philosophers 
had  a  guessing  at  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  but  they  knew 


Passage  in  Job  discussed.  33 

not  well  whether  they  should  say  so  or  no ;  now  there  is  no 
guessing  at  the  matter,  nor  no  opinion  about  it,  as  they  had, 
God  knows  how  many,  but  a  certain,  infallible  assurance. 
We  *  know '  it  is  so. 

[Know  •  it  ?  Certainly  by  the  order  of  nature  there  must 
be  a  little  doubting  about  it.  For  what,  and  if  the  devil 
should  come  with  his  sophistry  now  to  shake  this  foundation 
of  our  faith?  and  are  we  so  sure  of  life  again  after  death? 
or  that  our  body,  which  lies  mouldered  in  the  grave  for  worms 
to  make  their  beds  in,  shall  be  raised  up  to  glory?  'Who  Job  14.  4. 
is  he,'  saitli  Job,  *  that  can  bring  a  clean  thing  out  of  filthi- 
ness?  there  is  not  one/  It  is  an  easy  thing  to  bring  a  man 
to  his  end,  to  put  him  into  his  grave,  but  to  fetch  him  out 
again  and  make  him  live,  what  hope  have  ye  of  that  ?  It  is 
true,  indeed,  there  is  some  hope  of  a  tree,  if  that  be  cut  Job  14.  7- 
down,  yet  it  will  sprout  again,  and  though  the  root  waxes  dry 
and  the  stock  be  dead,  yet  a  little  water  will  fetch  it  again, 
and  make  it  grow  as  well  as  ever  it  did.  But  with  us  that 
are  men,  now  there  is  no  such  matter.  *  Did  you  ever  see 
an  old  man  grow  young  again,  with  all  the  pains  that  might 
be  taken  about  him  ?  Why,  no  more  shall  ye  see  a  dead 
man  made  alive  again,'  says  the  devil.  And  so  he  would 
persuade  us  that  there  were  no  life  after  this?  at  least,  that 
there  were  no  such  knowledge  and  assurance  of  it  as  the 
Apostle  speaks  of  here,  but  that  it  might  be  called  in  ques- 
tion, for  all  we  know  it  so  well.  Nay,  he  comes  to  us  like  a 
ghostly  father,  with  a  Bible  in  his  hand,  and  would  fain  make 
us  believe  what  we  must  trust  to,  for  it  is  written,  and  it  is 
written  in  Job  (it  is  a  shrewd  place,  I  would  wish  you  to  look 
to  it,  that  you  might  know  how  to  answer  him  another  time) 
14.  12  "*.  '  For  man  sleepeth  and  riseth  not,  he  shall  not  wake 
again,  nor  be  raised  from  his  sleep  till  the  heaven  be  no  more.' 
Marry  now,  if  God  would  send  a  fiery  chariot  for  us  before 
we  die,  as  He  did  for  Elias,  or  carry  us  from  the  world  2  Kings  2. 
upon  Angels'  wings,  as  old  Enoch  was  carried,  then  indeed  ^^^  -  ^ 
there  were  some  hope  of  living  in  this  same  place  of  glory 
that  we  speak  on ;  but  to  die  first,  and  be  thrown  into  the 
earth,  and  there  become  earth  ourselves,  and  if  a  man  looks 

'  The  passage  in  brackets  is  marked  "  See  Pineda  in  Job,  p.  406.  edit, 

in  the  original  for  onnission.  Paris.  1631, 


34  Confidence  in  the  resurrection. 

SEEM,  after  twenty  years  not  to  know  what  is  become  of  us,  tliere 
is  no  likelihood  of  it  this  way,  we  perish  and  die,  and  where 


are  we  ?  says  Job.  Look  ye  what  ways  the  devil  has  to  take 
this  same  assurance  and  knowledge  of  our  happiness  after 
death  from  us,  to  make  us  stagger  at  it  and  doubt,  that  so 
we  might  look  the  less  after  it.  We  might  answer  hira  now, 
as  Christ  did,  with  another  place  of  Scripture,  and  tell  him 
it  is  written  otherwise  in  twenty  places.  But  we  say  that 
Job  spake  as  a  natural  man  there  that  was  overgone  with 
sorrow";  and  therefore  he  might  have  leave  to  express  him- 
self with  a  little  passion  more  than  ordinary.     But  do  you 

Job  19. 25,  know  what  he  said  afterwards?  'I  know,'  says  he,  'that 
my  Redeemer  liveth ;'  there  he  was  of  another  mind,  he 
knew  it  just  as  St, Paul  says  here.] 

We  *  know  '  it,  indeed  our  reason  can  hardly  otherwise 
judge  of  a  man,  but  that  he  is  utterly  undone  when  he  dies, 
and  cannot  see  how  it  is  possible  for  a  dead  man  to  rise 

Job.  3. 4.  again,  no  more  than  Nicodemus  could,  how  a  live  man  should 
be  born  again.  And  therefore  when  St.  Paul  came  among 
the  philosophers  at  Athens,  and  talked  to  them  of  the  resur- 

Acts  17.     rection,  and  of  the  life  to  come,  they  held  him  for  a  mad- 

18  32  .  .  .  . 

'     '        man ;  all  their  learning  was  against  it,  and  they  could  by 
no  means  perceive  how  it  should  be.     But  we,  which  have 

Col.  2. 8.  learned  Christ,  must  not  be  deceived  through  vain  philo- 
sophy ;  for  we  have  a  most  undoubted  assurance  of  it  from 
the  Spirit  of  God.  Christ  can  tell  Nicodemus  how  a  man  shall 
be  born  again ;  and  St.  Paul  can  tell  us  here  how,  after  death, 
we  shall  be  sure  to  live  again  eternally  in  the  heavens. 

This  then,  before  we  can  go  any  further,  must  be  the  first 
thing,  for  us  to  be  assured  that  there  is  glory  for  us  after 
death  ;  for  if  we  have  not  this  assurance  and  knowledge  first, 
it  will  be  vain  to  go  on  and  talk  of  any  thing  else.  Nay,  if 
we  be  ignorant  of  this,  it  will  go  hard  with  us,  whensoever 
our  turn  shall  come;  for  death  will  come  upon  us  like  a 

Heb.6. 19.  mighty  storm  at  sea,  and  if  we  want  the  anchor  of  hope,  this 
knowledge  here,  to  hold  us  fast,  then  woe  worth  our  case  ! 
we  shall  be  tossed,  we  know  not  whither,  so  that  when  we 
are  gone  and  put  in  our  graves,  they  may  write  upon  us  as 

"  Loquitur  Job  juxta  naturam.  Re-  Dei  opus  per  Christum. — PoliSynop,  in 
surrectio  autem  non  est  naturas,  sed      locum. 


The  body  in  the  soul's  piHson-house.  36 

that  perplexed  knight  of  Arragon  appointed  to  be  written 
upon  his  tomb,  in  great  letters,  *  I  die, '  says  he,  '  against 
my  will,  and  I  know  not  whither  I  go;'  or,  as  Titus"  the 
Emperor,  'Alas,'  said  he,  *I  must  die,  and  I  know  not  why.* 
We  shall  be  a  hundred  ways  perplexed,  and  if  we  know  not 
this,  we  shall  not  know  what  to  do  with  ourselves  for  very 
distraction.  But  now  if  we  can  get  this  full  assurance,  that 
St.  Paul  here  had,  and  come  to  know  beforehand  what  ad- 
vantage death  is  to  us,  we  shall  be  so  far  from  being  afraid 
of  it,  or  perplexed  when  it  comes,  that  we  shall  throw  our- 
selves into  the  arms  of  it,  and,  like  the  tired  labourer,  be 
glad  when  we  can  come  out  of  the  field  and  repose  our- 
selves in  the  bed  of  rest. 

(1.)  Now  I  come  to  the  two  descriptions.  The  first  is  of 
our  bodies  as  they  are  here :  the  next  is  of  them  as  they  are 
hereafter.  Ye  shall  see  what  poor  things  they  are  here,  and 
M'hat  glorious  bodies  they  shall  be  there,  and  all  in  very  few 
words,  for  I  will  not,!  cannot,  stand  to  enlarge  much  upon 
either. 

'If  our  earthly  house.'  A  house,  first,  where  we  have 
somewhat  to  set  up  withal  yet,  indeed  our  body  is  the  house 
of  the  soul  P,  where  it  lodges.  But  if  you  look  what  ill 
entertainment  it  has  in  it,  you  will  say  it  has  but  an  ill 
lodging  of  it.  For  as  long  as  our  souls  are  there,  they 
are  lodged  with  a  witness,  lodged  no  better  than  as  pri- 
soners are  lodged,  shut  and  pent  up  so  that  they  cannot 
have  their  own  liberty.  Ye  see  it  defiles  the  soul  as  soon  as 
ever  it  gets  into  it,  corrupts  and  almost  kills  it,  as  soon  as 
ever  it  is  sent  to  harbour  there,  with  original  sin :  and  then 
when  it  is  washed  and  all  made  clean  again  by  baptism,  yet 
ere  long  the  house  gets  soiled  and  infects  the  soul,  as  long 
as  ever  it  dwells  there.  And  therefore  the  ancients  were 
wont  to  call  it  the  grave,  and  the  sepulchre,  and  the  prison- 
house  of  the  soul,  the  house  of  bondage  i.  This  is  the  house 
that  St.  Paul  speaks  on  here.     An  ill  beginning,  you  see. 


°   The    editor  has   been    unable  to  Suicer,  Thesaur,  ii.  1210. 
trace  the  incident  here   mentioned  to  ^   Passages   in   which   the  body   is 

any  authority.  styled  the  grave,  and  the  prison-house 

>'  2a)jLia  oiKia  t/zux^Sj  Chrysost.  Horn,  of  the    soul,  are   collected  by  Suicer, 

69.  in  S.  Mattb.  Euseb.  Praep.  Evang.  Thes.  ii.  1212. 
1.  vii.  p.  186.  fol.  Par.  1544,  cited  by 

d2 


36  The  body  an  '  earthly '  house. 

SEEM.        (2.)  Yet  were  it  some  goodly  house,  some  stately,  com- 

'■ —  pacted  building,  that  were  reared  up  with  costly  stones  about 

it,  it  might  somewhat  help  the  matter ;  but  this  house  is 
built  up  of  nothing  but  earth  and  mud,  the  most  base 
materials  that  go  to  any  building.  Our  'earthly'  house. 
That  is  the  second  point  in  the  text.  And  if  it  be  no  better, 
it  is  a  goodly  thing,  sure,  that  we  should  make  so  much  of  it 
as  we  do,  whereby  it  seems  we  would  fain  seem  to  the  world 
to  be  of  a  little  better  mould  than  God  made  us  on;  but 
when  we  have  done  what  we  can  with  all  the  bravery  and 
cost  that  we  can  bestow  upon  ourselves,  yet  earth  we  are,  and 
earth  we  must  be  again,  whether  we  will  or  no.  We  set  a 
fair  outside  on  it,  saith  St.  Bernard'^,  but  if  we  look  to  see 
what  is  within  us,  we  shall  find  that  we  are  but  so  many 
sacks  of  excrements,  fit  meat  for  the  worms  of  the  earth 
to  diet  on ;  like  as  Clemens  Alexandrinus^  tells  us  of  the 
Egyptian  temples,  fair  and  sumptuous  without,  and  set  forth 
with  all  kind  of  majesty  and  curious  ornaments,  but  within 
nothing  but  some  ugly  serpents,  cats,  and  crocodiles,  to 
behold.  And  so  pull  but  this  same  skin  off  here,  that  makes 
us  look  so  fair  to  the  eye,  and  for  the  rest,  the  best  of  us  are 
nothing  else  but  a  lump  of  clay,  somewhat  handsomely 
framed  and  prettily  set  together,  and  that  is  all.  We  make 
much  ado  with  ourselves,  as  if  we  were  some  delicate 
creatures ;  and  this  earth  that  we  carry  about  with  us  must 
be  gilded  over,  as  if  there  were  no  such  matter.  But  when 
all  is  done,  we  shall  find  St.  Paul's  words  here  true,  that 
earth  and  mud  we  are ;  and  bring  us  the  most  comely  feature 
you  can  find  among  a  million,  it  is  but  a  house  of  clay,  and 
such  like  matter,  make  the  best  of  it.  [Which  that  young 
German'  understood  very  well,  that  would  never  suffer  his 

'  Nihil  aliud  est  homo  quam  sperma  foetidum,  saccus  stercorum,  cibus  vermium. 
Post  hominem  vermis,  post  vermem  foetor  et  horror; 
Sic  in  non  hominem  vertitur  omnis  homo. 

S.  Bernardi  Meditationes,  cap.  3.  edit.  Colon.  1637. 
'  See   Paedagog.  1.    iii.    c.    ii.    edit.      lethalem  incidisset,  a  propinquis    suis 
Potter,  i.  252.  fol.  Oxon.  1715.  exorari  non  potuit  ut  suam  effigiem  vel 

,  '  Miserae  in  Templo  Afrano  monu-       pictam  vel  sculptam  posteritati  relin- 

mentum  cujusdam  nobilis  adolescentis  queret;  tantum  hoc  precibus  illorum 
ex  Schleiniziorum  familia  (nisi  fallor)  concessit,  ut  postquam  terrse  mandatus 
oriundi  etiamnum  hodie  videre  licet.  esset,  paucos  post  dies  sepulchrum 
Perhibebatur  adolescens  ille  omnium  aperirent,  et  qua  forma  cadaver  suum 
suae  setatis  fuisse  pulcherrimus,  sed  invenirent,  eadem  depingi  curarent. 
cum   in    ipso  setatis  fiore  in  morbum      Hoc  cum  esset  factum,  invenerunt  fa- 


The  body  a  transitory  house.  37 

picture  to  be  drawn  in  his  life-time,  but  bade  his  friends, 
that  were  so  importunate  to  have  it,  take  him  out  of  his 
grave  when  he  was  dead,  and  then  draw  him  as  they  found 
him;  which  some,  for  the  love  they  bare  him,  would  needs 
do  too.  But  they  found  him  in  such  a  case  as  they  had  no 
heart  to  take  his  picture  then,  but  laid  him  down  again,  as 
fast  as  they  could,  and  found  it  true  which  Ecclesiasticus 
saith,  That  when  man  dieth  he  beco'mes  a  corrupted  earth, 
and  the  inheritance  of  serpents.  So  you  see  there  is  no 
great  pleasure  to  be  taken  in  these  houses  of  clay;  they 
are  but  poor  mean  things,  God  wot !  that  the  world  should 
so  trim  them  up,  and  set  up  their  rest  on  them,  as  they 
do"].  And  this  is  the  second  step  to  our  preferment  here; 
ye  see  we  are  fairly  holpen  up  with  it ;  our  bodies  are  but 
earthly  houses. 

(3.)  Now  an  earthly  house  would  do  somewhat  yet,  and 
we  might  perhaps  make  a  shift  withal,  if  it  were  well  and 
strongly  built,  if  it  were  a  steady  house,  though  it  had  not  - 
so  much  beauty  in  it,  yet  we  would  go  near  to  make  it  serve 
the  turn.  But  this  is  a  house  that  has  no  firmness,  no 
foundation,  nor  no  stability  in  it  at  all ;  it  is  but  '  a  taber- 
nacle,' saith  the  text,  *  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle;* 
that  is  the  third  thing.  Now  we  are  worse  than  we  were 
before,  for  there  was  some  hope  in  an  earthly  house,  that  it 
might  have  stood  still,  and  remained  a  sufficient  time  for  us 
in  one  place.  But  a  tabernacle  is  a  flitting  thing,  set  up  in  an 
hour  to-day,  and  taken  down  again  in  less  time  to-morrow,  if 
it  will  last  so  long,  for  perhaps  a  blast  of  wind  may  come  and 
puff  it  down  to-day,  and  so  all  is  spoilt.  See  then,  what 
this  life  of  ours  is ;  it  is  here  compared  to  a  travelling  tent, 
travellers  we  are  only  and  pilgrims  upon  the  earth,  carrying 
about  our  bodies  but  like  tents  and  tabernacles,  to  set  down 
and  take  up  again  after  a  night  over ;  and  there  an  end  with 
them.  Wherefore  a  wonder  it  is  to  see  what  the  world 
means,  to  bestow  such  a  deal  of  care  and  cost  upon  a  thing 
that  flits  away  from  us  every  day,  and  perhaps  must  be  taken 

ciem  ejus  semiconsumtain  a  vermibus,  in sacellogentllitioilliustempli inter  ar- 

et  plures  serpentea  circa  diaphragma  niatasmajorumetgentiliumstatuascon- 

et  spinam  dorsi  exstantes.     Jiisseruut  spicitur. — Joh.GerhardiLocc.Theolo^. 

igitur  ejus  effigieiii,  sicut  invenerant,  ivii.  82.  edit.  Cottffl,  ito.  Tubing.  1777. 
lapidi  incidi,  quod  inonumentum  adhuc  "  Marked  for  omission. 


38  The  body  is  to  be  dissolved, 

SEEM,  down  to-morrow.     Does  any  man  do  so  with  his  tabernacle? 

'■ he  does  not  keep  such  a  dressing  up   of  that,  but  makes 

account  to  take  it  up  again  ere  long,  and  get  him  gone. 
Then  if  we  set  [it]  up  for  many  years,  and  think  our  bodies 
like  our  barns,  and  this  tabernacle  like  the  tower  of  Babel, 
that  shall  never  fail,  perhaps  this  night  they  may  be  taken 
from  us,  and  He  that  dwells  in  heaven  will  but  laugh  us  to 
scorn  at  the  last. 

(4.)  Perhaps  they  may  be  taken  down  ?  nay,  be  sure  it 
shall,  says  the  text,  there  is  no  hope  on't,  but  it  must  be  dis- 
solved ;  *  when  this  earthly  tabernacle  is  dissolved,'  that  is 
the  fourth  thing.  We  shall  not  have  it  stand  up  for  ever ; 
but  build  it  as  carefully  as  we  can,  there  must  come  a  disso- 
lution of  it ;  and  fence  it  about  with  all  the  strength  that  our 
wealth  can  afford,  or  all  the  devices  that  our  wits  can  imagine, 
yet  all  will  not  do ;  it  must,  and  will,  at  the  last  fall  asunder 
of  itself.  For  I  pray  tell  me,  where  are  all  they  now  that 
promised  to  themselves  such  eternity,  how  their  houses 
should  never  fail,  they  that  led  the  world  in  a  string,  and  at 
whose  beck  both  men  and  beasts  did  bow,  that  subdued 
kingdom  upon  kingdom,  that  called  their  lands  after  their 
own  names,  and  thought  that  their  dwelling-places  should 

Ps.  49. 11.  endure  from  one  generation  to  another,  as  David    speaks. 

Ps.  49. 10.  '  For  we  see,'  says  he,  '  that  wise  men  also  die  and  perish 
together,  as  well  as  the  ignorant  and  foolish,  and  leave  their 
riches  for  others.'  Indeed,  we  use  to  flatter  the  great  men  of 
the  world  with  the  titles  of  Invincible  Potentates,  and  pre- 
sently after  comes  an  ague  and  shakes  them  all  to  pieces. 
They  wrote  the  Emperors,  Semper  Augusti,  men  that  should 
live  for  ever;  and  within  an  hour  after  some  of  them  were 
laid  flat  along  in  their  graves.  This  is  that  we  call  eternal 
and  everliving  honour.  Alas !  how  soon  it  dies,  how  soon 
dissolved,  and  we  are  gone. 

(5.)  Again:  'when  it  shall  be  dissolved,'  saith  St.  Paul; 
he  does  not  tell  us  when,  (for  that  is  uncertain,)  that  we 
might  be  at  all  times  prepared ;  perhaps  it  may  be  to-day, 
before  to-morrow,  in  the  first  or  second  watch,  we  know 
not  when ;  and  when  we  rise  in  the  morning,  we  can  hardly 
make  the  proverb  good  that  we  are  up  for  all  day.  For  God 
knows,  we  may  be  down  again,  six  feet  in  the  earth  before 


and  yet  to  be  rebuilt.  39 

the  sun  be  seven  hours  high  in  heaven.  But  whensoever  it 
is,  though  we  know  not  when  it  will  be,  yet  be  sure  it  will 
be  one  time  or  other.  The  general  tide  wafts  all  to  the 
shore,  some  sooner,  some  later,  but  all  at  last ".  This  taber- 
nacle must  be  dissolved. 

(6.)  And  yet  this  for  our  comfort ;  it  shall  but  be  '  dis- 
solved/ says  the  text,  and  no  more :  it  shall  not  be  utterly 
destroyed  and  brought  to  nothing.  All  the  power  that  death 
has  of  us  is  but  to  take  our  tabernacle  to  pieces,  to  dissolve 
the  body  only,  and  loosen  one  part  from  another;  but  to 
destroy  it  quite,  that  is  beyond  her  power.  It  takes  it 
asunder  indeed,  and  that  is  no  great  matter,  for  we  shall  get 
by  the  bargain;  death  does  but  unmake  us  that  God  may 
come  and  make  us  up  better  again ;  Who,  when  He  shall 
gather  together  what  death  has  dissolved,  of  a  corruptible 
body  will  frame  us  a  glorious  body,  and  of  a  flitting  taber- 
nacle will  set  us  up  a  royal  building,  eternal  in  the  heavens. 
And  thus  by  this  dissolution  here  there  is  more  pleasure  done 
us  than  we  think  of.  For  among  ourselves,  when  we  see  our 
houses  are  weak,  and  brittle,  and  every  day  ready  to  fall 
about  our  ears,  we  use  to  pull  them  down,  that  we  may  take 
the  materials  and  build  them  up  fairer  and  stronger  again. 
This  does  God  do  for  us ;  our  bodies  being  such,  weak  and 
unstable  tabernacles  as  they  are,  He  does  but  suffer  death  to 
dissolve  and  pull  them  down,  that  lie  may  take  the  building 
of  them  up  again  into  His  own  hands ;  and  of  poor  earthly 
houses,  build  us  heavenly  mansions,  and  make  us  glorious 
bodies  that  shall  continue  for  evermore. 

II.  And  so  I  come  to  the  second  part  of  the  text,  the 
description  of  the  life  to  come,  which  being  a  picture  too 
glorious  for  our  weak  eyes  to  behold,  and  seeing  we  can  per- 
ceive nothing  of  it  but  as  through  a  glass  and  very  darkly, 
as  the  Apostle  speaks,  we  shall  give  you  but  a  glimpse  of  it,  i  Cor.  13. 
and  pass  it  over  the  faster. 

(1.)  When  this  tabernacle  is  dissolved,  we  shall  have  a 

»  Homo  moriturus  non  magis  aut  et  casus  fortuitus  subito  et  ex  insperato 

conqueri  debet,  si  ad  mortem  pervenit,  ad  ilium  portum  perducit,  dolere  non 

quam  navigans  si  ad  portum  ad  quem  debet  homo,  sed  potius  cum  patientia 

navigabat,  celerius  quam  credit  pertin-  tolerare. — Idiot,  de  Contempl.  mortis, 

git.     Est  enim  mors  portus  ad  quem  1.  v.  c.  8.  ap.  Bibl.  Patr.  Latin,  torn, 

continue  navigamus  ;  et  ideo  si  ventus  x.  p.  22. 


40  '  And  rebuilt  by  God  Himself, 

SEEM,  building.     So  then  death  is  but  the  passage  and  the  door 
'■ —  that  let  us  out  from  a  poor  silly  cottage,  ready  to  tumble 


upon  our  heads,  to  a  fair,  spacious  palace,  whereof  we  shall 

fear  no  dissolution.     And  if  ye  would  know  what  manner  of 

building  it  is,  that  you  may  see  the  difference  betwixt  it  and 

Rev.  21.      ours,  St.  John  will  tell  you.     A  building  it  is,  says  he,  that 

■to 

hath  the  walls  of  jasper,  and  the  whole  structure  within  of 
pure  gold,  that  looks  as  clear  as  crystal,  (if  ye  be  in  love 
with  such  things,  there  they  are  for  you,)  and  whose  founda- 
tions are  garnished  with  all  manner  of  precious  stones,  and 
whose  gates  are  of  the  purest  pearl ;  and  all  those  shining 
with  the  glory  of  God  about  them.  We  should  put  out  our 
eyes  to  look  any  further,  and  therefore  we  will  content  our- 
selves with  this.  But  look  you  what  a  change  here  is ;  our 
own  a  poor  despised  tabernacle,  a  tent  that  is  but  holden 
up  with  a  few  sticks,  not  built  at  allj  and  this,  a  glorious 
compacted  structure,  as  will  amaze  every  one  to  behold  the 
majesty  of  it. 

(2.)  This  is  but  the  beginning  of  our  happiness,  we  shall 
have  that,  and  we  shall  have  God  with  it  too,  *  a  building  of 
God.'  It  is  that  which  He  has  prepared  for  Himself  of  old, 
and  that  will  double  our  happiness,  when  we  shall  not  be 
left  alone  there,  but  admitted  even  into  His  own  glorious 
Ps.  16. 11.  presence,  where  are  pleasures  for  evermore,  as  David  speaks. 

(3.)  And  *  a  building  not  made  with  hands,'  For  what 
one  hand  makes,  another  may  pull  down  again,  and  there- 
fore our  tabernacles,  a  few  hands  can  set  them  up  in  an  hour, 
and  one  hand  can  pull  them  down  again  in  a  moment.  But 
that  we  may  know  that  all  the  strength  of  the  world,  put  all 
their  hands  together,  as  we  use  to  say,  shall  never  dissolve 
this  building,  therefore  the  text  tells  us  it  is  made  without 
hands,  made  even  by  the  power  of  God,  Who  will  strengthen 
Dan.  2.  34.  it  for  ever.  'I  saw,'  says  the  king  of  Babel,  in  Daniel,  'a,  stone 
cut  out  of  a  rock,  without  hands;'  that  was  the  figure  of 
Christ's  Body,  which  was  made  without  the  help  of  man,  by 
the  power  of  God  Himself,  as  our  glorious  bodies  shall  be 
made  hereafter,  when  they  shall  be  like  unto  His. 

(4.)  And  therefore,  fourthly,  it  followeth  that  it  shall  be 
an  eternal  building,  not  like  an  unstable  tent,  a  house  here 
that  had  no  abiding,  for  this  body  passeth  away,  saith  the 


and  rebuilt  in  the  heavens.  41 

Apostle  ;  but  to  make  amends  for  all  labour  here,  this  second  i  Cor.  7.21. 
building  shall  be  a  resting-place  for  ever,  a  house  that  shall 
never  be  flitting  away,  but  one  that  will  last  unto  all  eter- 
nity ;  nor  wind  nor  weather  shall  hurt  it,  it  will  be  subject 
to  no  change,  for  eternity  is  ever  one  and  the  same;  and 
therefore  when  we  have  got  this  building  once,  let  hell  and 
death  roar  never  so  fast,  we  shall  not  need  to  fear  a  dis- 
solution any  more. 

(5.)  And  eternal  '  in  the  heavens ;'  that  is  the  last  cir- 
cumstance, which  is  the  last  of  all,  and  makes  up  our  fill  of 
felicity.  When  we  are  to  rear  up  a  building,  specially  if  it 
be  a  fair  one,  we  use  to  stand  as  much  upon  the  situation  of 
it  as  upon  the  building  itself.  Now,  if  ye  would  choose  a 
place  to  set  it  in,  sure  heaven  is  the  best  place  that  can  be 
wished  for.  The  earth,  that  wearies  and  dulls  us,  and  no  seat 
there  to  be  found  but  has  some  annoyance  or  other.  But  in 
heaven  we  shall  desire  nothing  which  we  shall  not  have,  even 
God  Himself  for  our  prospect.  Whose  face  we  shall  behold 
for  ever,  and  the  armies  of  regal  Angels  for  our  neighbours 
about  us,  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the  Prophets,  and  the 
glorious  company  of  the  Apostles  continually  with  harps  and 
viols  in  their  hands  to  sing  songs  of  joy  and  melody  with  us 
to  Ilira  That  sits  upon  the  throne  for  evermore.  Who  would 
not  desire  to  dwell  in  such  a  place,  where  we  shall  live  like 
kings  and  like  the  Angels  of  heaven. 

And  therefore  we  sigh  and  groan  for  it,  saith  St.  Paul, 
which  is  the  last  thing  of  all.  Propter  hoc  ingemiscimus.     As 
David  in  the  Psalms,  '  My  soul  is  athirst  for  the  living  God,  Ps.  42.  2. 
O  when  shall  I  appear  before  the  presence  of  God.'     And  as 
the  Apostle  in  another  place,  '  I  desire  to  be  dissolved  and  Phil.  1. 23. 
to  be  with  Christ.'     And  you  see  what  manner  a  desire  it 
is ;  he  sighs  and  groans  for  it,  and  will  be  glad  he  can  have 
it  so  too.     The  kingdom  of  heaven  comes  not  with  such  cold 
wishes  as  we  use  commonly  to  send  out  for  it,  say  but  one, 
Miserere  mei,  or  '  Christ  have  mercy  upon  me,'  when  we  are 
a-dying,  and  then  think  an  Angel  will  come  down  and  carry 
us  fair  and  softly  upon  his  wings  to  eternal  tabernacles.    No, 
says  our  Saviour,  you  must  not  look  for  it.    The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  got  by  violence ;  it  will  cost  us  many  a  deep  groan  ^**-  ^^• 
and  sob  before  we  can  get  to  it,  for  it  is  a  very  narrow  and  Mat.  7. 14. 


42  Exhortation  to  fix  the  affections 

SEEM,   straight  way  thither,  and  we  must  thrust  and  labour  hard  ere 

'- —  we  shall  get  through  it.    What,  do  we  think  the  kingdom  of 

Lu.  17.  20.  Qq(|  comes  by  observation  and  by  sitting  still  ?  no ;  if  ye 
would  get  into  a  place  that  is  kept  so  close,  you  must  do  as 
men  use  to  do  at  such  a  time ;  strive  and  press  forward  till 
you  groan  again,  till  a  man's  body  be  all  of  a  sweat  for  it, 
and  then  ye  may  get  in ;  and  when  we  are  in  we  shall  never 
sigh  nor  groan  after ;  though  we  sigh  now,  we  shall  laugh 
then  our  fill.  This  is  then  that  which  St.  Paul  would  com- 
mend unto  us,  that  while  we  live  here  in  this  miserable 
\  'a  yearn-  world,  our  souls  would  have  an  earning^  and  a  longing  after 
the  joys  of  the  next;  and  if  we  think  what  and  how  unspeak- 
able they  are,  we  cannot  choose  but  do  it. 

Now,  whatsoever  we  do,  let  us  be  sure  we  turn  not  our 
sighs  the  wrong  way,  and  instead  of  sighing  after  heaven, 
set  ourselves  a-sighing  after  this  life,  [as  if  any  joy  were  to  be 
found  here,  for  alas  !  you  see  here  is  nothing  but  misery  and 
vanity,  and  therefore  if  we  sigh  for  any  thing  here,  it  should 
be  to  be  rid  of  that ;  but  for  any  thing  that  should  content 
us,  alas  !  here  is  nothing.     If  we  go  about  to  seek  for  con- 
tent here,  we  shall  have  an  Angel  come  to  tell  us,  as  he  told 
Lu.  24.  5.    Mary,  that  sought  Christ  in  a  grave  when  He  was  risen, 
*  Why  seek  you  the  living  among  the  dead  ? '    And  why  sigh 
we  after  pleasure  in  a  place  of  misery,  or  for  rest  in  a  place 
Jer.  6. 14.  of  trouble?  Indeed,  we  cry  'peace,  peace,'  here  like  false  pro- 
phets, when  there  is  no  such  matter  as  peace  in  this  world. 
Where  is  it  then?     Why,  the  true  peace  is  that  which  our 
death  and  dissolution  brings  us,  to  translate  our  vile  bodies 
from  earth  into  glorious  mansions  in  heaven.    And  therefore 
lest  we  should  doubt  of  it,  St.  John  was  commanded  to  write 
Rev.  14.     it  for  a  certainty,  '  Write  from  henceforth,  that  blessed  are 
^^'  the  dead,  for  they  rest  from  their  labours ;'  mark  it,  they  rest 

from  henceforth,  that  is,  from  their  death.  They  did  not  rest 
before  then,  for  there  are  nothing  but  cares,  and  troubles, 
and  sorrows  here,  when  all  is  done. 

And  therefore  to  make  an  end  of  all,  since  there  is  no 
true  rest,  nor  joy,  to  be  had  here,  let  us  sigh  and  seek  after 
it  where  it  is ;  where  this  blessed  sister  of  ours  hath  sought 
and  sighed  after  it,  and  now  found  it,  even  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.     And  when  we  are  come  thither  after  her,  I  shall 


on  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  43 

tell  you  one  thing,  we  shall  repent  us  nothing,  but  that  we 
came  there  no  sooner;  and  when  we  shall  compare  this 
flitting  tabernacle  of  ours  to  that  eternal  building  there,  we 
shall  cry  out  with  St.  Peter,  'It  is  good  for  us  to  be  here.'  Mat.  17.  4. 
And  we  shall  be  as  loath  to  look  back  upon  the  earth,  as 
Lot  was  to  look  back  upon  Sodom,  or  Moses  to  the  land  of 
Egypt ;  while  we  shall  consider  ourselves  to  be  delivered 
from  the  house  of  bondage,  and  brought  into  a  land  where 
at  God's  right  hand  are  pleasures  for  evermore.] 

To  these  everlasting  joys  and  pleasures,  in  houses  not  made 
with  hands,  but  eternal  in  the  heavens,  for  which  we  daily 
sigh  and  groan,  God  for  His  mercy  vouchsafe  to  bring  us ; 
that  we  with  this  our  sister  and  all  others  departed  in  the 
faith  of  Christ,  may  have  our  perfect  consummation  there 
in  soul  and  body.  And  He  bring  it  to  pass  for  us.  That, 
by  His  death,  hath  purchased  life  for  us,  Christ  Jesus,  the 
righteous.     To  Whom,  &c.  *■ 

»  Instead  of  this    passage  enclosed  any  thing  here  deserve  a  groan.  Groans 

within  brackets,  the  following  one  is  and  sighs  are  to  be  kept  for  heaven, 

substituted  ...  .  *  ail  the  world  is  not  where  true  joys  are  only  to  be  found, 

worth   a  sigh,    nor   does   tlie   loss    of  And  so  I  have  done  with  the  text.' 


SERMON  III. 


PREACHED  AT  DATCIIET  NEAR  WINDSOR,  ON  THE  SECOND  SUNDAY  AMER 
EPIPHANY,  A.D.  MDCXXIV.  ;  AT  THE  MARRIAGE  OF  MR.  ABRAHAM  DE 
LATJNE  AND  MRS.  MARY  WHEELER  '. 


St.  John  ii.  1,  2. 

And  the  third  day  there  was  a  marriage  in  Cana  of  Galilee ; 

and  the  Mother  of  Jesus  was  there : 
And  Jesus  was  also  called,  and  His  disciples,  unto  the  marriage, 

SEEM.       It  is  a  marriage  day  with  us,  and  it  is  a  marriage  day 

EE: with  the  text ;  a  marriage  appointed  you,  whom  it  concerns, 

I  doubt  not  by  the  care  and  providence  of  God ;  a  text  ap- 
pointed me  by  the  care  and  order  of  the  Church,  for  you  see 
how  it  falls  out  to  be  that  portion  of  Scripture  here  which 
the  Church  hath  allotted  to  be  universally  read  for  the  Gospel 
of  this  very  day^.  The  Gospel  of  the  Sunday  is,  or  should 
be,  the  theme  of  all  our  sermons  through  the  revolution  of 
the  whole  year.  And  this  day  is,  or  may  be  thought  at  least, 
the  fittest  of  all  other  days  of  the  year  to  celebrate  a  marriage 
on,  it  being  the  very  day  wherein  Christ  celebrated  one  Him- 
self, with  His  own  presence  at  it. 

The  choice  of  this  day  then,  for  your  purpose,  hath  saved 

me  the  choice  of  a  text  for  mine,  for  it  hath  given  me  one 

here  ready  to  my  hand,  while  the  Church's  intention  met 

Prov.  15.    both  so  happily  together.     And  it  being  Solomon's  rule  that 

^^'  men  should  speak  their  words  as  near  as  might  be  in  season, 

Heb.  3. 13.  and  while  it  is  called  to-day,  as  St.  Paul  speaks;  sure  if  ever 

"  In  1631  the  manor  of  Datchet,  de-  appears  from  a  pedigree  of  the  Wheeler 

scribed  as  having  formerly  been  parcel  family  contained  in  the  Visitation    of 

of  the   possessions    of  the    castle    and  Bucks  in  a.d.  1639.  (Harl.  MS.  1102, 

honour  of  Windsor;  and  the  manor  of  fol.  54.)  that  this  Mary  was  the  fifth 

Datchet  St.  Helen's,  which  had  belonged  daughter  of  Sir  Edmond  Wheeler  of 

to  the  Priory  of  St.  Helen's,  and  had  Rideing  Court,  county  of  Bucks,  knight, 

been  afterwards  annexed  to  the  honour  by  Elizabeth  daughter  and  heiress  of 

of  Windsor,  were  granted  by  Charles  I.  Richard  Hanberry  of  London,  and  that 

to  Sir  Charles  Harbord  and  others,  by  Abraham    Delane,  to  whom    she    was 

whom  they  were  conveyed  to  Sir.  W.  married,  was  of  the  highly  respectable 

Wheeler,  in  whose    family  the    estate  family  of  Delane  of  Sharstede,  in  the 

continued    till    1681.     In    the    parish  county  of  Kent. 

church  are    many  monuments    of  the  ^  St.  John  ii.  1 — 11.  is  the  passage 

family  of  Wheeler.   See  Lysons' Magna  of  Scripture  appointed  for  the  Gospel 

Britannia,  Buckinghamshire,  p.  548.    It  of  the  day. 


-  The  different  Epiphanies  of  our  Lord.  45 

we  shall  keep  his  rule,  as  we  shall  keep  it  to-day,  and  speak 
oi  opus  diet  in  die  suo,  bring  the  day  and  the  work  of  the  day 
together;  for  he  that  runs  may  read  some  happy  correspond- 
ence between  the  work  of  this  day,  and  the  words  of  this 
text ;  that  at  least  for  the  text's  sake,  (however  the  sermon 
proves,)  for  the  text's  sake,  and  for  the  Gospel's  sake  yon 
may  say,  as  they  seem,  sicui  audivimus,  sic  etiam  vidimus,  as  Ps.  48.  8. 
we  have  heard  so  have  we  seen,  and  as  we  have  seen  so  have 
we  heard  here  in  the  house  of  our  God. 

The  text  then  being  thus  fixed  to  the  present  occasion, 
before  we  proceed  to  that  business,  it  would  be  suited  in  the 
words  to  the  present  time  too,  according  to  the  revolution  of 
the  year ;  for  whether  we  had  had  a  marriage  here  to-day  or 
no,  we  should  have  had  the  same  Service,  the  same  Sunday, 
the  same  Gospel,  and,  if  a  sermon,  the  same  text.  Howso- 
ever, the  second  Sunday  after  the  Epiphany  would  have  come 
and  gone  for  all  that ;  and  this  Gospel  must  have  been  read 
upon  it :  and  we  must  have  a  care  to  observe  the  order  and 
solemnity  of  the  Church  Service  and  the  Church  Sunday,  as 
well  as  of  any  marriage  day  whatsoever. 

You  are  to  know,  then,  that  this  is  Epiphany  time.  You 
see  they  are  called  the  Sundays  of  the  Epiphany ;  and  Epi- 
phany time  is  the  time  of  Manifestation,  the  time  when 
Christ  was  pleased  to  manifest  Himself,  and  make  His  glory 
known  to  the  world.  According  to  which,  the  Church  hath 
suited  her  office,  and  fitted  us  with  a  course  of  service,  that 
might  help  to  bring  into  our  minds  in  order,  the  things 
themselves,  as  they  were  done  here  by  Christ  our  Saviour 
while  He  was  upon  the  earth. 

Thus  there  were  three  great  and  prime  manifestations 
that  He  made  of  Himself.  The  Church  begins  with  them  at 
Twelfth  Day.  The  first,  that  He  made  to  the  Gentiles  ;  and 
accordingly  propounds  to  you  the  Gospel  of  the  star  that  Mat.  2.  i, 
appeared  in  the  East,  with  the  Collect,  '  O  God,  Which  didst  ^^^^' 
manifest  Thy  only  begotten  Son  to  the  Gentiles*'.*  The  next 
was  the  first  manifestation  we  read  of  which  He  made  of 
Himself  to  the  Jews,  while  He  sate  with  them  in  the  Temple, 
and  shewed  them  what  He  was,  even  at  twelve  years  of  age ; 

'  O  God,  Who  by  the  leading  of  a  Son  to  the"  Gentiles,  mercifully  grant, 
star,  didst  manifest  Tliy  only  begotten      &c. — Collect  for  the  Epiphany. 


46  Church  Services  neglected. 

SEEM,  and  accordingly  did  the  Church  propound  that  story  for  the 
^°"       Gospel  the  last  Sunday,  which  was  the  first  after  the  Epi- 


seqq^'  ^^'  phany.  The  third  was  the  first  manifestation  that  He  made 
of  Himself  to  His  disciples,  who  had  been  called  but  a  little 
before,  and  were  now  invited  with  Him  to  the  marriage  at 
Cana.  Answerable  whereunto  is  the  Gospel  propounded 
unto  us  by  the  Church  this  third  day,  '  and  the  third  day 
there  was  a  marriage  in  Cana,'  so  it  begins;  and  at  it,  Jesus 
'manifested  forth  His  glory,  and  His  disciples  believed  on 
Him,'  so  it  ends.  There  were  other  miracles  whereby  Christ 
manifested  Himself  too,  and  they  have  their  times  hereafter; 

Job.  2. 11.  but  these  were  the  first,  in  every  kind,  as  St.  John  says,  'This 
was  the  beginning  of  miracles  that  He  did;'  and  therefore  hath 
the  Church  appointed  the  three  first  days  after  His  Nativity, 
for  the  solemn  memory  and  anniversary  celebration  of  them. 
These  things,  if  they  were  better  heeded  by  us,  and  known 
to  us,  than  they  are,  I  suppose  we  should  affect  the  office  and 
love  the  service  of  the  Church  better  than  we  do :  while  the 
ignorance  of  them  makes  us  esteem  of  God's  solemn  service, 
so  divinely  disposed  as  it  is,  no  otherwise  than  as  if  it  were 
a  bare  reading  of  so  many  lines,  to  spend  away  time,  as  in 
some  places  it  is  accounted ;  or  an  introduction  to  usher  in 
a  sermon,  and  wait  upon  it  like  a  handmaid  upon  her  mis- 
tress, as  in  others ;  while  God  knows  it  is  the  greatest  happi- 
ness that  we,  His  poor  servants,  can  attain  to  here  on  earth, 
orderly,  and  duly,  and  solemnly,  to  serve  Him  as  the  Angels 
do  in  heaven,  that  is,  day  by  day  to  magnify  Him,  to  do  Him 
honour  and  public  homage,  to  send  up  prayers,  as  Angels'^  from 
earth,  and  to  receive  down  blessings,  as  Angels  from  heaven^, 

**  'AyytXots  tpyov  So^oXoyeTv  @e6y,  S.  Bernardi  Serm.  2.  in  Vig.  Nat.  Do- 

ir&ari   Ty    OTpariS,   rwi'   i-Kovpaviiiiv  iv  mini,   0pp.   1.   746.   edit.   Mabill.    fol. 

Tovro  fpyou,  toi^av  avairf/Airtiv  T(f  KtI-  Par.  1719.      Hi  sunt  cives  beatse  civi- 

ffavTi. — Basil,  in  Ps.  xxviii. 0pp. 1.179.  talis  supernse  Hierusalem,  quae  sursum 

fol.  Paris.  1618.  est  mater  nostra,  .  .  .  ut  .  .  .  confortent 

*    Ipsi    nos    Angeli    sancti    deside-  quoque,  et  moneant,  et  orationes  filio- 

rant ;   nonne  de  vermiculis  istis  et  de  rum  Tuorum  delerant,   et  offerant  in 

pulvere  isto  restaurandi  sunt  muri  coe-  conspectu   gloria;   majeslatis  Tuas  .  .  . 

lestis    Hierusalem  ?    putatis    quantum  et  solliciti  discurrentes  inter  nos  et  Te, 

desiderant  cives  coelestes  instaurari  ci-  Domine,   gemitus   nostros   et  suspiria 

vitatis  suae  ruinas  ?    quomodo  solliciti  referentes  ad  Te,  ut  impetrent  nobis 

sunt  ut  veniant  lapides  vivi,  qui  cosedi-  facilem   Tuae  benignitatis  propitiatio- 

ficentureis?  quomodo  discurruntmedii  nem,  et  referant  ad   nos   desideratam 

•inter  nos  et  Deum,fidelissime  portantes  Tuae    gratiae    benedictionem. — S.  Au- 

ad  Eum  gemitus  nostros,  et  Ipsius  gra-  gustini  (?)  Soliloq.  0pp.  vi.  577.  edit, 

tiam  nobis  devotissime  reportantes? —  Antv.  1700. 


The  subject  divided.  47 

to  commemorate  His  mercies,  aud  to  hear  with  our  ears,  what 
our  fathers  (that  is,  the  priests  and  ministers  of  God)  shall 
tell  us,  the  noble  acts  that  He  did,  in  the  old  time  before  us.  Ps.  44.  l. 
Among  which,  this  that  the  Church  hath  propounded  to-day 
for  the  Gospel,  and  which  I  have  propounded  to-day  for  my 
text,  is  a  chief  one;  the  first  noble  act,  the  beginning  of 
miracles,  as  St.  John  says  a  little  forward,  that  Christ  did  Joh.  2.  ii. 
after  His  baptism. 

And  now  the  text  is  suited  to  the  time,  both  for  the 
occasion  which  we  have  to  celebrate,  aud  for  the  day  which 
the  Church  is  to  celebrate. 

It  divideth  itself  into  these  parts  : 

The  solemnizing  of  a  marriage,  'And  there  was  a  mar- 
riage,' the  first. 

The  place  where  it  was,  *  at  Cana,'  the  second. 

The  time  wheu  it  was, '  upon  the  third  day,'  aud  the  third 
point  too. 

The  guests  that  were  at  it,  Mary  the  Mother  of  Jesus, 
Jesus  Himself,  and  Jesus's  disciples,  the  fourth  point. 

And  lastly,  how  they  came  there.  They  were  invited  to 
it,  'And  Jesus  was  also  called,  and  His  disciples,  to  the 
marriage.' 

The  end  of  all  will  be  that  we  make  the  same  use  of  it 
which  they  did,  and  then  we  shall  be  sure  to  have  the  same 
benefit  which  they  had,  even  the  presence  of  Christ  and 
blessing  of  Almighty  God  among  us. 

Of  these  then,  or  of  as  many  of  these  as  the  time  will 
suffer  us  that  we  may  speak,  to  the  honour  of  God's  most 
Holy  Name,  &c.  &c.  &c» 

I  shall  desire  &c. 

'  And  the  third  day  there  was  a  marriage  in  Cana  of 
Gahlee.' 

'There  was  a  marriage.'     That  is  the  first. 

Whose  marriage  this  was,  that  we  cannot  tell.  They  did  but ' 
shoot  at  rovers,  those  old  friars,  that  out  of  an  old  apocry- 
phal gospel  were  wont  to  tell  us  the  utory^  how  that  St.  John 

'  *To  shoot  at  rovers,'  witliout  any       'Vita    Jesu    Christi'    by    Ludolphus 

particular  aim,  see  Johnson's  Diet.  de   Saxonia,   gives   us    the   arguments 

*  The   following   extract  from    the      by  which  this  opinion  was  supported. 


48 


The  persons  who  were  married  at  Cana. 


SEEM,   the  Evangelist  was  the  man,  and  the  Virgin  Mary's  niece 

'- —  was  the  woman,  that  were  to  be  married  here  in  Cana,  but 

that  when  the  feast  was  done,  Christ  called  away  the  bride- 
groom, and  made  a  disciple  of  him ;  and  St.  Jerome  must  be 
brought  in  to  make  up  the  case,  when,  as  God  knows,  there  is 
no  such  meaning  in  the  Father'' ;  and  it  seems  they  forgot 
that  St.  John  was  called  long  before  this  time,  and  was  one 
of  the  first  disciples  that  was  called,  as  he  says  himself  here. 
His  disciples  were  called  with  Jesus  to  the  marriage.  What 
could  become  of  them  ?  curious  wits  forsooth  must  be 
searching,  and  lose  their  wits  for  their  labour.  What  have 
we  to  do  with  that  which  God  and  His  Gospel  have  not  been 
pleased  to  tell  us  ?  It  is  enough,  be  the  marriage  whose  soever 
Heb.  13.  4.  it  was,  WO  are  told  that  marriage  is  an  honourable  estate  of 
Gen.  2.  24.  life  in  all  men,  a  state  ordained  by  God  Himself  in  paradise, 
a  state  without  which  there  can  be  no  society  in  this  world 
durable ;  and  albeit  single  life  be  a  thing  more  angelical  and 
divine  ^,  yet  because  the  replenishing  of  the  earth  first  with 


Quamvis  autem  dubium  sit  cujus 
nuptiae  fuerunt,  tamen  nos  meditemur 
eas  fuisse  Johannis  Evangelistae,  sicut 
in  prologo  super  Jobannem  Hierony- 
nius  videtur  affirmare,  quern  volentem 
nubere  Cbristus  de  nuptiis  vocavit;  et 
extunc  Johannes  Cbristo  propter  mun- 
ditiem  continentias  virginalis  niagis  fa- 
miliaris  fuit.  Hocetiam  videtur  ex  eo 
quod  Cbristus  non  legitur  fuisse  in 
nuptiis  aliis,  et  per  hoc  '  Mater  Jesu 
erat  ibi'  tanquam  in  nuptiis  sui  nepo- 
tis.  Non  enim  est  verisimile  quod 
ipsa  venisset,  nisi  nullum  sibi  atte- 
nuisset  (?)  sicut  ivit  ad  Elizabeth  cog- 
natam  s.uam,  nee  legitur  in  tali  casu 
ivisse  ad  aliam.  In  ipsis  ergo  nuptiis 
domina  nostra  fuit  non  tanquam  ex- 
tranea  invitata,  sed  tanquam  primoge- 
nita  et  dignior  inter  sorores  fuit  in 
dome  sororis  quasi  in  domo  sua.  Cum 
enim  soror  ejus  Maria  Salome  uxor 
Zebedasi  vellet  facere  nuptias  filio  suo 
Jobanni,  vadens  ad  dominam  nostram 
in  Nazareth,  quarto  a  Chana  miliario, 
intimavit  hoc  ei,  et  sic  ipsa  ante  oculos 
venit  ad  praeparationem  nuptiarum. 
Unde  legitur  quod  '  Mater  Jesu  erat 
ibi,'  sed  de  Jesu  et  discipulis  dicitur 
quod  fuerunt  vocati ;  qui  tamen  disci- 
pull  adhuc  firmiter  non  adhserebant, 
sed  sequebantur  gratia  familiaritatis, 
imbui  cupientes  Ejus  doctrina.— Pars 


i.  cap.  XXV.  The  reader  who  is  anxious 
to  pursue  the  investigation  of  this  sub- 
ject will  find  numerous  authorities,  in 
which  it  is  discussed,  pointed  out  by 
Wolfius,  Curse  Phil,  in  S.  Johan.  cap. 
ii.  v.  ]. 

''  It  is  admitted  by  Baronius,  a.d. 
xxxi.  §  31,  that  no  such  passage  is 
to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  Jerome. 
It  occurs  in  two  ancient  prologues  pre- 
fixed to  the  Gospel  according  to  St. 
John,  of  which  the  former  is  ascribed 
to  St.  Jerome,  the  other  to  St.  Au- 
gustine. Both  may  be  found  in  the 
Glossa  Ordinaria ;  (edit.  fol.  Antw. 
1617,  tom.  V.  1001.  1003;)  the  former 
is  also  extant  in  the  Compluteusian 
Polyglott,  and  in  the  works  of  the 
Venerable  Beda,  (edit.  Basil.  1563.  iii. 
515.)  It  is  there  stated  that  'Joban- 
nem de  nuptiis  volentem  nubere  voca- 
vit Dominus.'  In  the  second  these 
words  occur:  '  Iste  est  Johannes, 
quem  Dominus  de  fructivaga  nuptia- 
rum tempestate  vocavit.'  Thomas 
Aquinas  (2a  2se  q.  186.  a  4),  Bona- 
ventura,  Lyra  (who  says  '  Dicitur 
etiam  communiter  quod  istse  nuptiae 
fuerunt  Joannis  Evangelistae,'  edit. 
1617.  col.  1045),  and  all  the  middle- 
age  theologians,  adopted  this  opinion. 

'  See  passages  to  this  effect  col- 
lected from  the  Fathers,  both  Greek  and 


Marriage  a  religious  rite.  49 

goodly  inhabitants,  and  then  of  heaven  with  glorious  saints, 
depended  upon  the  conjunction  of  man  and  wife,  when  there 
was  but  a  man  alone,  God  made  him  a  woman  and  a  helper  Gen.  2.  22. 
for  him;  a  helper  for  many  ends,  for  the  propagation  of  his 
kind,  for  the  education  of  his  children,  for  the  rule  of  his 
servants,  for  the  guiding  of  his  estate;  and  therefore  man 
and  woman,  being  to  join  themselves  for  such  purposes,  they 
had  need  have  some  insoluble  knot  to  tie  them  together,  and 
that  is  the  bond  of  matrimony,  which,  when  God  hath  tied, 
no  man  can  unloose  again.  This  is  the  state  that  is  here 
spoken  of;  that  you  here  are  to  undertake ;  a  state  that  hath 
been  ever  more  or  less  esteemed  of  as  a  thing  sacred  and  re- 
ligious; the  title  which  the  heathens  give  it  is  holy,  T0O9 
lepovij  jd/j,ov<;,  saith  Dionysius  Halicarnassus'',  and  the  rites 
wherewith  these  Jews  here  did  solemnize  it  in  their  rituals, 
as  in  ours,  are  called  *  Sancta  •.' 

For  the  time.  'The  third  day  there  was  a  marriage.' 
"What  this  third  day  was,  is  needless  to  let  you  know, 
whether  the  third  day  of  the  week,  or  the  third  day  after 
His  baptism™;  but  be  it  as  it  was,  a  fit  time  it  was  for 
Christ  to  be  there,  and  to  manifest  Himself  at  it.  Christ 
chose  this  time  to  be  at  a  marriage";  had  it  been  at  some 
other  time,  perhaps  He  would  not  have  been  there ;  but  this 
was  a  fit  time  both  to  make  good  the  testimony  of  John 
Baptist,  and  to  shew  wherefore  He  came  into  the  world. 
St.  John  Baptist  had  told  wonderful  things  of  Him  but  a 
feyf  days  since,  and  no  doubt  but  the  people  wondered  what 
manner  of  person  He  should  be.  That  should  take  away  the  - 
sins  of  the  world.  A  wonder  lasts  not  long,  yet  three  days 
at  least  it  useth  to  tarry",  that  they  might  have  proof  there- 
fore of  St.  John  Baptist's  testimony  in  time.     The  third  day, 

Latin,    by    Suicer,    Thesaur.    in    voce  the   same  treatise  in  Ugolini's  Thes. 

•Kopefvia  ;   Bellarni.  de  Monachis,  1.  ii.  Antiq.  Sacr.  torn.  iii.  col.  ccccxvii. 

c.    28.  vol.  1.  col.    lefi*.  ed.   Ingolst.  ■"  The  different  opinions  held  upon 

1586;    and  Gerh.  Loc.  Theolog.  xvi.  this  subject,  are  collected  and  examined 

25.  edit.  Cottse.  by  Maldonat,  in  his  Commentary  upon 

^  . . .  iKiXow  8«  roiis  Ifpovs  oliraXaioi  the  passage. 

ydfiovs  'Pw/jLaiKfj  irpocTTiyopla-  ir(pt\a/i-  »  The  opinions  of  the  Fathers  upon 

kdfovTes  ^d^^iKia. — Dion.  Halic.  edit.  this  subject  also  may  be  seen  in  the 

Huds.  i.  92.  author  just  cited,  and  also  in  Barradii 

*  On  the  religious  character  of  the  Harm.  ii.  135. 

marriage  rites  of  the  Jews,  see  God-  °  Erasm.   Adag,   Chil.   ii.   Cent.   v. 

wyn's  Moses  and  Aaron,  p.  232.  edit.  prov.  42. 
1685,  and  the  notes   of  Hottinger   to 

COSIN.  T? 


50  Proper  seasons  for  marriages. 

SEEM,  as  there  fell  a  marriage  upon  it,  not  without  God's  provi- 
'- —  dence  came  Christ  to  work  a  miracle  and  confirm  betimes 


what  St.  John  had  said  of  Him,  that  the  people  might  per- 
ceive He  had  no  false  prophet  to  His  forerunner. 

And  the  third  day,  (that  is,  presently  after,)  because 
Christ  chose  to  do  His  beginning  of  miracles  at  a  marriage, 
it  was  to  tell  us  wherefore  He  came,  to  unite  Himself  to  His 
Church,  and  make  a  heavenly  marriage,  &c. 

Now  as  Christ  chose  His  time,  and  as  the  Church  hath 
chose  this  time  to  propound  the  story  of  this  marriage,  so 
must  we  choose  our  times  for  it  too;  we  have  no  miracles  to 
work,  but  we  have  times  to  observe;  there  is  a  time  for  all 
Eccl.  3,  things,  a  time  to  laugh  and  a  time  to  weep.  This  is  no 
icV  X  ,•  weeping  time;  it  is  a  time  of  joy,  it  butts*  upon  Christmas 
adjoins,  time,  it  is  the  third  day  since  we  began  to  celebrate  the  nati- 
vity of  Christ,  and  a  marriage  time  fits  well  withal.  A  time 
of  mourning  would  not  have  done  so  well ;  and  had  Christ 
met  with  a  marriage  as  He  had  been  going  to  the  wilderness 
to  fast  forty  days,  surely  He  would  never  have  turned  into 
it ;  but  now  when  His  time  of  fasting  was  done  He  went  to 
a  marriage.  There  is  an  order  of  the  Church  which  forbids 
the  solemnizing  of  marriages  at  certain  times  in  the  yearP; 
not  that  it  is  unlawful  at  any  time,  but  that  it  is  not  ex- 
pedient at  some.  For  duties  belonging  to  marriage  and 
mirth,  and  offices  appertaining  to  penance  and  sorrrow,  are 
things  altogether  unsuitable;  all  the  Prophets  and  all  the 
Eccl.  3.  Apostles  tell  us  as  much.  And  therefore  as  we  might  well 
I'cor.  7. 5.  ^^^"^^  it  a  marvellous  absurd  thing  to  see  in  a  church  a 
solemn  wedding  kept  upon  a  public  and  solemn  day  of 
fasting,  so  likewise  our  predecessors  thought  it  fit  to  restrain 
the  liberty  of  marriages  during  the  time  which  was  ap- 
pointed either  for  preparation  unto,  or  for  exercise  of  general 
humiliation  in  prayer,  and  fasting,  and  weeping  for  our  sins 
upon  some  days,  which  we  commit  all  the  days  of  our  life, 
and  perhaps  should  never  think  of  any  sorrow  for  them,  had 
not  the  Church  ordained  such  times  to  moan  and  lead  us 
thereunto  :  such  are  the  times  of  Advent,  of  Lent,  of  Ember 
times,  and  the  like^;  for  if  all  times  were  open,  we  should,  &c. 

P  Bingham,  Orig.  Eccl.  xxii.  ii.  §  14.      and  Gerh.  Loc.  Com.  Theolog.  xv.  470. 
■>  See   Bingham,    as   quoted   above,      Bellarm.  de  Matrim.  cap.  31. 


The  guests  invited.  51 

it  is  enough  that  some  are  open  then,  and  it  will  be  the 
greater  commendation  for  you  then,  and  the  less  trouble  to 
your  minds,  that  you  are  come  hither  in  a  due  time  to  cele- 
brate your  marriage,  even  in  a  time  of  joy,  when  Christ 
came  to  this,  without  breaking  any  order  or  godly  discipline 
of  the  Church. 

For  the  place,  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  we  shall  not  need  to  say 
much;  it  was  in  that  very  place  whereabout  John  Baptist 
was  a-baptizing  and  preaching  to  the  people  of  Christ ;  that 
80  in  the  same  place  his  doctrine  might  be  confirmed,  and 
the  people's  faith  strengthened.     The  place  which  you  have 

chosen  is  in  your  father's  house,  as  Jacob  was  married  to  his  Gen.  29. 

28 

Wife  in  Laban's,  her  father's  and  her  mother's  own  home; 
which  will  be  a  joy  to  them  that  see  it,  and  a  better  con- 
firming of  their  hope  for  God's  blessing  upon  you. 

Now  for  the  guests ;  '  And  the  Mother  of  Jesus  was 
there.'  Clandestine  and  stolen  marriages,  whereat  nobody 
might  be  present,  were  ever  odious  to  God  and  men ;  this 
was  none  of  them.  It  was  the  glory  of  our  predecessors 
solemnly  to  celebrate  their  marriages,  and  to  have  as  many 
witnesses  at  them  as  they  could  get ' ;  and  all  to  a  good  end ; 
that  they  might  pray,  and  testify  how  religiously  the  espoused 
gave  their  faith  one  to  the  other,  to  remain  inviolable  to 
their  lives'  end ;  that  if  they  kept  it  so,  it  might  be  a  joy  to 
them ;  if  they  brake  it,  so  many  witnesses  might  rise  up 
against  them. 

Witnesses  and  guests  in  this  time,  then,  might  be  many ; 
we  are  to  speak  of  them  that  were  extraordinary  only ;  for  it 
was  St.  John's  intent,  by  naming  those  more  than  any  other, 
to  have  us  take  some  especial  heed  of  them.  Here  is  first, 
the  Mother  of  Jesus.  Mary  was  a  woman  that  had  found 
grace  and  favour  with  God,  a  woman  that  was  saluted  from 
heaven  with  an  Angel,  one  whom  all  generations  were  to  call  Lu.  i.  28, 
*  blessed,'  who  was  then  a  saint  on  earth,  who  is  now  a  most  l^,  i.  49. 
glorious  saint  in  heaven.  Sure  they  must  needs  think  some 
great  blessing  would  come  upon  the  marriage,  the  rather 
by  having  her  there.     The  custom  was  then  to  call  grave 

»  See  Bingham,  Orig.  Eccl.  xxii.  iv.      note   on  the   word    '  Friend,'   in    the 
§  1.  and  §  3  ;   Gerh.  Loc.  Com.  xv.      Rubric  to  the  Marriage  Service. 
463  ;  NicholU  on  the  Common  Prayer, 

e2 


62      .  The  Virgin  one  of  the  guests. 

SEEM,  matrons  to  the  wedding  of  young  people,  that  so  they  might 

'- —  have  a  pattern  of  modesty,  and  gravity,  and  godliness,  and 

honesty,  for  them  to  imitate  all  their  life  after.  Now  as  the 
world  goes  in  our  days,  these  customs  are  almost  forgotten ; 
for  we  use  to  call  the  youth  of  the  parish  and  the  minstrels 
of  the  country ;  music  and  melody  are  the  two  matrons  we 
look  after ;  Venus  for  the  Virgins,  and  Bacchus  for  Christ. 
A  sad  difference  !  as  if  men  and  women  meant  to  purchase 
jollity  enough  for  one  day  of  their  marriage,  and  repentance 
enough  for  all  the  days  of  their  life  after.  This  is  a  fashion 
for  gentiles ;  the  people  of  the  nations  may  frisk,  vos  autem 
non  sic,  it  must  not,  and  I  am  glad  it  is  not  like  to  be  so 
with  you,  who  (God  be  thanked)  have  been  better  taught. 

'  And  Mary  the  Mother  of  Jesus  was  there.'  Her  being 
there  commended  the  marriage  as  a  thing  not  wantonly,  or 
lightly,  or  suddenly  undertaken,  (as  God  knows  they  are  too 
often  so  with  us,)  but  solemnly  and  deliberately  in  the  fear 
of  God  ^,  as  they  were  then,  as  they  ought  to  be  now,  accord- 
ing to  order,  as  our  Church  book  teacheth  us  to  speak. 
Had  it  been  otherwise,  surely  she  would  never  have  been 
there;  but  being  so,  and  her  being  at  it,  it  brought  on  a 
better  guest  than  she  was ;  which'  is  the  next  thing,  *  And 
Jesus  was  also  called  to  the  marriage.' 

I  have  wondered  often  why  Mary  should  be  named  first, 
and  Jesus  after  her ;  why  not  Jesus  before  Mary  ?  and  I 
find  it  is  for  nothing  else  but  to  tell  us  that  unless  Mary 
had  been  there  first,  Jesus  would  never  have  come  thither. 
Mary's  being  there  made  it  a  solemn  and  a  grave  meeting ; 
to  such  a  meeting  Christ  would  come ;  had  it  been  without 
Mary,  that  is,  without  gravity  and  sobriety.  He  would  have 
turned  another  way,  and  never  have  vouchsafed  His  presence 
at  it.  And  the  only  reason  why  Christ  comes  to  no  more  of 
our  weddings  than  He  does, — as  you  see  by  the  eflFect  of 
most  on  them, — is  because  we  invite  not  His  Mother  first, 
that  is,  sobriety  and  temperance,  and  a  holy  religious  intent 
to  be  joined  together  now,  to  live  together  hereafter  in  the 
fear  of  God,  and  keeping  of  His  commandments.  But  for- 
sooth, all  our  thoughts  must  be  taken  up  with  the  pleasure 

■  '  Reverently,  discreetly,  advisedly,  soberly,  and  in  the  fear  of  God.' — Order 
for  the  solemnization  of  matrimony. 


Money  regarded  more  than  virtue.  53 

and  jollity  that  we  shall  now  come  to  enjoy,  with  the  honour 
and  worship  that  shall  now  be  done  us,  over  that  we  had 
before  j  with  the  wealth  that  we  shall  wallow  in,  especially 
if  the  portion  and  the  jointure  be  any  thing  great ;  and 
therefore  Christ  seldom  or  never  comes  among  us  at  such 
times. 

For  He  hath  sent  His  Mother  before  Himself,  and  if  she 
finds  the  place  fit  for  her,  then  good,  He  will  come  after ;  if 
otherwise,  there  is  no  place  for  Him.  He  would  have  our 
thoughts  taken  up  with  a  wife's  virtues,  when  we  marry  one, 
and  not  with  her  visage ;  with  her  goodness  that  she  brings, 
and  not  with  her  goods  ':  the  worst  wives  having  many  times 
the  best  portions,  and  the  best  wives  (such  a  one  as  Esther  Esth.  2.  7. 
was)  having  oft  times  none  at  all.  Marry,  the  world  runs 
now  for  wives  as  Judas  ran  to  the  High-Priests  for  money, 
with  quantum  dabis,  what  will  ye  give  ?  no  matter  what  she  Mat.  26. 
hath  besides,  though  both  would  do  well  together,  howsoever. 
And  if  the  maiden  chance  to  say,  with  Peter,  aurum  et  argen-  Acts  8. 6. 
turn  non  est  7nihi,  '  gold  and  silver  have  I  none,  but  such  as 
I  have  shall  be  yours,'  let  her  be  as  obedient  as  ever  Sarah 
was,  as  devout  as  Anna,  as  loving  as  Rebecca,  as  virtuous  as 
the  Virgin  Mary, — yet  all  shall  be  esteemed  as  nothing,  qucb- 
renda  pecunia  primum  est ",  other  things  may  mend  it,  but 
money  makes  the  match.  It  will  hardly  be  believed,  if  we 
tell  the  world  that  money  commonly  mars  it ;  but  believe  it 
or  not,  that  which  makes  it  good,  is  goodness ;  and  to  have 
the  Mother  of  Jesus,  and  the  blessing  of  Jesus  with  it,  is 
worth  the  greatest  dowry  that  now-a-days  is  given ;  to  want 
them,  be  the  dowry  what  it  will  be,  be  the  beauty  of  the 
maid,  the  credit  of  her  house,  the  greatness  of  her  stock, 
never  so  great,  all  will  be  but  vanity,  and  turn  to  vexation  of 
spirit.  A  woman  is  like  a  ship,  saith  Solomon ;  she  is  like  a  Prov.  31. 
ship  indeed  ;  if  she  hath  not  gravity  to  balance  her,  and  dis- 
cretion to  guide  her,  she  flies  up  and  down  without  a  pilot ; 
inconstant,  light-headed  and  vain ;  now  she  loves,  and  anon 
she  hates ;  now  she  obeys,  and  anon  she  scorns  j  gentle  to- 

'  Si   uxorari  oportet,  ...  sit  amor  stola  Valerii  ad  RufBnum  de  uxore  non 

in  causa,  non  census  ;  et  faciem  uxoris  ducenda.     Inter  Epp.  S.   Hieronymi, 

eligas  non  vestem,  et  animum  non  au-  p.  207.  edit.  Antv.  1579. 

rum,  et  tibi  uubat  uxor  non  dos. — Epi-  "  Horat.  Ep.  i.  1.  53. 


54  The  marriage  why  hallowed 

SEEM,  day,  and  rough  to-morrow ;   she  goes  by  tides  and  all  her 

—  goodness  takes  her  by  fits,  like  the  good  days  of  a  double 

tertian  " ;  and  though  she  seems  good  for  seven  days  at  first, 
she  makes  amends  and  is  naught  seven  years  after ;  so  that 
Judg.  11.  as  it  was  said  of  Jephthah's  daughter,  that  she  went  out  to 
'  '  bewail  the  days  of  her  virginity,  may  be  said  in  truth  of 
many  men's  daughters.  For  if  they  bring  not  more  of 
Mary  and  Jesus  with  them  than  of  other  company,  and 
more  of  their  virtues  than  of  other  endowments,  they,  or 
their  husbands,  may  go  out  and  bewail  the  days  of  their 
marriage  too,  and  wish  they  were  set  in  their  single  life 
again.  And  what  I  say  of  one  sex,  for  equity's  sake  I  say 
of  the  other  too. 

'  And  Jesus  was  also  called,  with  His  disciples,  to  the 
marriage/  It  may  be  that  they  were  called  out  of  some 
special  devotion  and  faith  that  they  had  in  Him,  that  all 
things  should  go  well  with  them,  both  that  day  and  all  their 
days  after,  if  they  might  but  be  blessed  with  His  presence 
once ;  for  so  king  David  would  needs  have  the  Ark  of  God 
1  Chron.     into  his  house,  and  his  house  was  the  better  for  it  ever  after  : 

17.    25    26  .  ...  . 

27.  See  13'.  ^wd  SO  Zaccheus  received  Christ  into  his  house  with  joy, 
Lii  19. 9     ^^^  salvation  was  brought  unto  his  house  by  it. 

But  whether  it  were  out  of  faith  or  confidence  in  Him,  or 
no,  as  yet  it  was  early  days  with  any  believers,  sure  we  are  it 
was  out  of  charity  and  good  affection  to  Him,  neither  did 
Mat.  10.  they  lose  their  reward  for  that.  He  that  receives  a  prophet 
in  the  name  of  a  prophet,  shall  have  a  prophet's  reward ;  and 
Christ  would  come  when  He  was  called,  were  it  but  to  com- 
mend charity  and  hospitality  to  us,  and  to  tell  us  how  facile 
He  is  of  His  own  goodness ;  that  be  the  persons  what  they 
will  that  call  Him,  if  they  do  but  call  upon  Him  He  will 
hear,  and  give  them  their  desire  withal ;  nay,  so  full  of 
goodness,  that  if  they  forget  to  call.  He  will  come  and  call 
and  knock  Himself;  if  they  will  but  open  to  Him,  not  shut 
the  doors  against  Him,  they  shall  have  His  blessing.  That 
if  any  call  now;  but  for  the  call  of  marriage  more  spe- 
cially, because  there  is  more  need  of  Him  then,  than  at 
any  other  time. 

'  An   ague  intermitting  but   one   day,  so  that  there   are  two  fits   in  three 
days. — Johnson's  Diet. 


by  our  Saviour's  presence.  55 

(1.)  For  first,  they  that  marry  are  like  them  that  venture  at 

sea;  they  venture  their  estate,  venture  their  peace,  venture 

their  liberty;  yea  many  a  two  venture  their  souls  too,  as 

Solomon    did    with   his   concubines,    and    Herod    with    his  i  Kings 

lis 
brother's  wife;  that  if  Christ  be  not  at  hand  to  save  them,  Mat.  14. 3. 

they  are  ever  and  anon  ready  to  perish. 

(2.)  They  that  marry   must  commonly  leave  father  and 

mother,  and  sister  and  brother,  and  kindred,  and  a  great 

deal    of  other  comforts   which  they  were  wont  to   enjoy ; 

that   if  Christ   were  not  at  hand  to  be  as  all  these  unto 

them,  most  an  end  it  would  so  fall  out,  that  the  latter  end 

of  these  people  would  be  worse  than  the  beginning.     But 

when  Christ  comes  to  the  marriage,  there  will  be  no  want 

of  other  company.     If  thou  must  forsake  thy  father's  house, 

said  God  to  Jacob,  be  not  afraid  of  that,  for  £go  Dominus  Oen.  12.  i. 

tecum  ero,  I  will  be  with  thee.     It  is  some  comfort  yet  that 

we  shall  have  somebody  with  us,  when  we  must  leave  our 

wonted  acquaintance,  and  yet  here  is  not  every  somebody, 

but  here  is  Christ  Himself,  that  by  His  presence  here  hath 

promised  His  presence  and  assistance  to  all  them  that  shall 

join  themselves  and  live  according  to   His  holy  ordinance. 

And  they  that  have  Him  shall  be  in  Enoch's  case,  though  Gen.  6.  22, 

.24 

all  the  world  forsake  them  yet  shall  they  walk  with  God ; 

or  in  Daniel's,  who  had  none  but  Michael  the  archangel  to  Dan.  lo. 

•  21 

help  him,  there  is  company  enough ;  and  as  Christ,  when  all 

forsook  Him  and  fled,  'Yet  am  I  not  alone,  for  the  Father  Jbh.  16. 82. 

is  with  Me.'     So  whatsoever  they  be  put  to,  yet  are  they 

not  alone,  for  Christ  is  with  them.     And  though  men  think 

themselves  safe  enough,  as  long  as  they  be  in  their  father's 

house,  yet  this,  erat  Jesus  ibi,  is  worth  all ;  for  Isaac  was  in  G^en.  22. 

his  father's  house,  and  yet  he  had  like  to  have  lost  his  life  if 

God  had  not  been  with  him  ;  and  Jacob  was  in  his  mother's  Gen.  27. 

house,  and  yet  the  best  counsel  she  could  give  him  was  to 

take  to  his  heels  from  the  fury  of  Esau;    the  Shunainite's  2 Kings 

4    go 

child  in  his  mother's  lap,  and  yet  not  safe.  If  God  and 
Christ  be  not  with  us,  nobody  is  with  us ;  if  They  will  vouch- 
safe Their  presence,  nobody  will  be  against  us.  A  fruitful 
vine  shall  grow  upon  the  tops  of  our  houses,  and  our  Ps.  128. 8. 
children  shall  stand  like  olive  branches  round  about  our 
table;   which  is  the  happiness,  that  I  wish  from  this  day 


56  Marriage  a  state  of  imperfection. 

SEEM,  forward  may  befall  you,  as  it  hath  done  others  of  your  stock 
— 5^! —  before  you. 


(3.)  The  married  life  is  so  full  of  troubles,  vexations,  crosses, 
Gen.  3. 16,  while  (as  Grod  made  the  order  at  first)  the  man  must  sweat 
with  weariness  abroad,  and  the  woman  wear  herself  with 
sorrow  at  home  ;  she  to  bring  forth  children,  and  he  to  bring 
them  up  ^ ;  and  though  all  their  life  be  spent  in  some  ease, 
yet  when  they  grow  to  age,  to  be  despised  of  others,  to  be 
lame,  and  blind,  and  deaf,  to  have  palsies,  and  gouts,  and 
agues  upon  them ;  why,  if  Christ  were  not  by  to  help  them, 
and  to  comfort  them  with  His  presence,  what  joy  could  they 
take  in  such  a  state  of  life  that  had  brought  all  these  miseries 
upon  them  ? 

(4.)  Last  of  all ;  had  not  Christ  vouchsafed  His  presence  at 
this  marriage,  men  might  have  had  cause  to  doubt,  as  they 
Mat.  19.  did  in  the  Gospel,  whether  it  were  good  to  marry  at  all,  or 
no ;  for  first.  He  was  a  virgin  Himself,  and  His  Mother,  she 
was  a  virgin  ;  neither  He  nor  she  would  lead  any  other  lives  J 
and  married  life  itself  seems  to  be  but  an  imperfect  state,  the 
state  of  perfection  is  virginity,  so  much  commended  by  our 
Saviour,  so  highly  esteemed  by  St.  Paul.  Besides,  those  that 
thought  themselves  wise  men  of  old,  were  little  in  love  with 
marriage,  insomuch  that  one  said  it  would  be  a  happy  world 
if  there  were  no  women  in  it ;  as  Cato ;  and  that  if  they  were 
out,  Grod  would  come  oftener  among  us  than  He  does^ ;  that 
a  woman  was  a  necessary  evil,  and  that  a  wise  man  would 
never  marry  one  of  them  ^.  All  which  considered,  it  was 
necessary  that  Christ  should  confirm  the  honour  and  honesty 
of  this  estate  by  His  presence,  as  being  a  state  of  life,  for  all 
their  discourse,  both  pleasing  and  acceptable  to  God,  if  it  be 
undertaken  according  to  His  holy  will  and  ordinance. 

And  what  greater  comfort  can  there  be  to  any  than  to 

*  Tribulatio    autem    est in  satio  nostra  non  esset  absque  Diis.' — 

suspicionibus  zeli  conjugalis,  in   pro-  Epistola    Valerii    ad   Ruffinum,   inter 

creandis  filiis  atque  nutriendis,  in  ti-  0pp.    S.    Hieronymi,    Epist.  49.  edit, 

moribiis  et  mceroribus  orbitatis.  Quo-  Aiitv.  1579.  p.  207.     See  also  L.  C. 

ties  enim  quisque,  cum  se  connubii  viii-  Rhodegini  Lect.  Antiqq.  xiii.  14.  col. 

culis  alligaverit,  non  istis  trahitur  at-  757.  edit.  Franc.  lG(i6. 

que  agitatur  affectibus. — S.  August,  de  ''A  large  collection  of  these  passages 

bancta  Virgin,  c.  16.  torn.  vi.  254.  edit,  from  the  sayings  of  the  ancients  may 

Bened.  fol.  Ant.  1700.  be  seen  in  the  Hieron.  adv.  Joviniau.  i. 

y  Ait   Cato    Uticensis,    'Si   absque  28,   29.   0pp.  ii.    161,   162.  edit.   Ibl. 

foeinina  posset  esse  mundus,  conver-  Ant.  1578. 


Conclusion.  57 

know  that  the  state  wherein  they  live  is  pleasing  to  Almighty 
God,  without  which  confidence  every  day  would  be  a  dismal, 
a  miserable  day  unto  them. 

Then  to  make  an  end.  If  you  that  are  here  to  be  married* 
would  have  all  things  to  succeed  well  with  you,  you  are  to 
take  this  marriage  here  for  a  pattern  to  make  yours  by.  If 
wantonness  and  lightness,  with  tlieir  attendants,  be  sent 
away,  and  Mary  the  Mother  of  Jesus  be  sent  for  to  you ;  if 
Christ  and  His  disciples  be  invited  to  bless  your  marriage 
day  now,  to  guide  you  in  your  married  life  hereafter,  Christ 
is  so  gentle  and  ready  to  be  with  you,  that  He  will  work 
miracles  but  you  shall  have  a  blessing;  it  will  do  you  good 
all  the  days  of  your  life,  and  after  this  marriage,  and  this  life, 
bring  you  at  last  to  a  more  lasting  marriage  with  the  Lamb, 
and  a  life  that  shall  never  fail. 

To  which  He  bring  us  all,  Who  hath  purchased  the  same 
for  us,  Christ  Jesus,  &c.,  to  Whom,  &c. 


SERMON  IV. 


rv. 


Matthew  iv.  6. 

If  Thou  he  the  8on  of  Ood,  cast  Thyself  down  headlong,  for  it 
is  written,  He  shall  give  His  Angels  charge  over  Thee,  and 
with  their  hands  they  shall  hold  Thee  up,  lest  at  any  time 
Thou  dash  Thy  foot  against  a  stone. 

{IfThow  he  the  Son  of  God,  cast  Thyself  down,  for  it  is  written.  He 
shall  give  His  Angels  charge  concerning  Thee ;  and  in  their  hands 
they  shall  hear  Thee  up,  lest  at  any  time  Thou  dash  Thy  foot  against 
a  stone.'} 

SEEM.  So  the  devil  upon  a  day  tempted  Christ,  so  the  devil  every 
day  tempts  us,  whose  whole  life  is  little  else  but  a  time  of 
temptation  from  our  cradle  to  our  grave ;  and  though  many 
and  various  the  temptations  are  which  we  suffer  from  him, 
yet  most  an  end  he  works  upon  us  with  such  as  this  was,  to 
make  us  presume  upon  God's  mercy,  make  us  believe  that  we 
are  the  sons  of  God,  and  then  that  we  may  cast  ourselves 
headlong  into  what  sins  we  list,  that  we  should  be  never  a 
whit  the  worse  for  it,  but  as  often  as  we  fell  down.  He  and 
His  Angels  would  take  us  up  again. 

I  know  we  will  all  confess  that  this  should  not  be,  that 
presumption  is  a  high  sin;  yet  if  any  such  temptation  comes, 
I  know  not  how  it  comes  about,  but  for  all  that,  we  will  pre- 
sume to  die  for  it,  we  will  be  venturing  to  have  our  will,  come 
of  it  what  will  come :  and  the  mischief  is,  that  we  have  no 
sense  of  the  devil's  device  in  it,  or  that  there  comes  any  devil 
to  us  for  the  matter. 

In  which  regard,  it  may  do  some  good  to  let  you  see  both 
how  the  devil  deceives  you,  and  how  you  deceive  yourselves ; 

*  From  internal   evidence  it  would      See  the  note  at  the   end    of  the  next 
appear    that    this    and    the    following      sermon, 
discourse  were  written  in  the  year  1625. 


Division  of  the  subject.  69 

how  his  way  is  like  a  serpent's  way  over  the  stones,  that  over 
is  come,  indeed,  but  a  man  cannot  tell  how ;  that  goes  so 
slyly,  and  creeps  so  slow,  that  a  man  sees  him  before  he 
knows  what  way  he  gat  in : — and  how  your  way  is  like  the 
downfal  of  a  rock,  or  the  fearful  way  from  the  height  of  a 
pinnacle,  where  (for  all  the  devil's  fair  words)  there  are  no 
Angels  to  hold  you  up,  but  them  that  will  take  you  by  the 
feet,  and  dash  your  head  against  the  stones. 

And  a  better  way  to  let  you  see  both  the  subtilty  (as  I 
say)  of  his  way,  and  the  danger  of  your  own,  I  cannot  take, 
than  in  this  place  of  Scripture,  where  they  are  both  laid  out 
to  the  open  view  of  all,  that  when  you  have  seen  them  and 
looked  upon  them,  you  may  (as  you  use  to  do  in  other  ways 
of  danger)  decline  them,  and  come  there  no  more.  If  any 
of  you  be  so  presumptuous  that  he  will  keep  on  his  old  way 
still,  yet  (that  which  for  this  time  concerns  me)  I  shall  have 
quitted  myself  of  an  office ;  and  as  the  man  of  God  told  the 
king,  I  shall  let  you  understand  where  the  trains  are  laid  iKing820. 

f  22. 

for  you. 

And  it  will  be  a  good  commodity,  this,  for  them  that  will 
use  it,  to  have  notice  beforehand  of  an  adversary's  forces,  and 
of  the  manner  of  his  fight ;  we  shall  ward  oflF  his  blows  the 
better,  when  they  come ;  and  though  his  darts  be  fiery,  yet 
if  we  make  preparation,  they  may  be  quenched,  as  St.  Paul  Eph.  &  16. 
speaks,  and  Satan  shall  not  circumvent  us. 

For  the  text  then ;  it  is  the  temptation  of  the  pinnacle, 
a  temptation  that  the  devil  uses  to  bring  men  to  presump- 
tion and  wantonness  withal. 

It  hath  three  general  parts.  The  first  is,  the  colouring 
and  oiling  of  it  over,  to  make  it  come  on  the  better,  by 
a  pretext  of  being  the  son  of  God :  *  If  thou  be  the  Son 
of  God.' 

The  second  is  the  temptation,  and  the  very  fiery  dart  itself: 
Make  no  more  ado,  but  cast  Thyself  down  headlong. 

And  the  third  is  the  cost  which  he  bestows  upon  it,  to 
make  it  fly  and  pierce  the  better,  by  an  allegation  of  a  choice 
piece  of  Scripture,  (which  is  a  cost  that  he  bestowed  upon 
neither  of  his  other  temptations,)  *  for  it  is  written,'  (I  have 
it  here  in  the  Psalms  to  shew  you,)  'He  shall  give  His 
Angels  charge  over  Thee,  and  with  their  hands  they  shall 


60  The  devil  tempts  to  despair. 

SEEM,  bear  Thee  up,  lest  at  any  time  Thou  dash  Thy  foot  against 

'- —  a  stone.* 

These  three ;  and  these  three  to  be  the  heads,  from  whence 
all  other  parts  of  the  text,  as  they  shall  come  in  order,  and 
all  the  parts  of  our  ensuing  discourse,  are  to  flow.  Of  these 
then,  that  we  may  speak  that  which  shall  be  honourable  to 
Almighty  God,  and  profitable  to  ourselves,  I  shall  desire 
you,  &c. 

THE    BIDDING    OF    THE    COMMON    PRAYERS. 

Pater  Noster. 

I.  '  If  Thou  be  the  Son  of  God.*  For  the  better  under- 
standing of  which  words,  and  what  the  devil  meant  by  them 
in  this  place,  we  must  a  little  reflect  upon  the  former  temp- 
tation. There  he  used  the  same  phrase  before ;  and  here  he 
is  up  with  it  again ;  '  If  Thou  be  the  Son  of  God.'  He  was 
much  troubled  with  it,  it  seems,  and  a  great  mote  it  was  in 
his  eye,  that  by  a  voice  from  heaven,  as  a  little  while  since  at 

Mat.  3. 17.  His  baptism,  Christ  should  be  said  and  proclaimed  to  be 
the  Son  of  God.  That  voice  bred  all  this  mischief;  and  no 
sooner  was  it  sent  from  heaven,  but  up  comes  the  devil  from 
hell  to  send  it  back  again ;  and  because  it  came  out  of  the 
clouds,  ye  shall  see  what  ways  and  turnings  the  devil  has  to 
wrap  it  up  in  the  clouds  again,  that  it  might  be  no  more 
heard  of  here  on  earth''. 

(1.)  He  comes  first  like  a  desperate  and  a  murmuring 
devil,  with  a  few  stones  in  his  hand,  and  an  'if  of  doubt  and 
desperation  in  his  mouth,  and  tells  Christ  that  sure  the  voice 
from  heaven  was  but  a  deceitful  voice ;  that  it  could  not  be 
that  He  should  be  Filius  dilectus,  the  well-beloved  Son  of 
God ;  for  the  childen  of  God  do  not  use  to  be  so  dealt  withal 
as  He  was,  to  have  nothing  but  a  heap  of  stones  set  before 
Him,  when  they  desire  food  to  eat;  for  what  man  is  there. 

Mat.  7.  9.  who  if  his  son  ask  him  bread,  would  give  Him  a  stone  ?  and 
therefore  that  He  was  but  some  hunger-bitten  child,  who  was 
cast  out  of  the  world,  and  no  such  beloved  Son  of  God  as  the 
voice  from  heaven  made  Him  believe  He  was.  This  was  his 
first  *if;'    'If  Thou  be  the  Son  of  God;'  to  bring  Him  by 

•'  See  Jansenii  Concord,  cap.  xv.  p.  126.  edit.  fol.  Lugd.  1577. 


The  devil  tempts  to  presumption.  61 

a  doubt  to  despair  '^  of  it,  and  to  resolve  with  Himself  that  the 
Son  of  God  He  was  not.     And  this  way  would  do  no  good. 

Now  seeing  that  would  not  prevail,  he  goes  another  way 
to  work;  and  here  he  comes  like  a  fine  wldte  devil,  like  a 
pure,  smooth-tongued  hypocrite,  with  no  more  doubting  *  ifs,' 
whether  He  Mere  the  Son  of  God,  or  no;  but  an  'if  of 
flattery  in  his  mouth ;  that  surely  the  Son  of  God  He  was ; 
*  If  Thou  be  the  Son  of  God;'  an  'if  of  concession  and 
granting,  that  he  would  have  Him  make  no  question  of  it, 
but  that  He  was  the  very  Son  of  God  indeed.  So  you  see 
the  difference  betwixt  these  two  '  ifs,'  and  the  sense  of  it,  as 
it  is  to  be  taken  in  this  place. 

That  you  see ;  and  you  may  see  withal  the  wonderful 
device  of  the  devil,  who  can  transform  himself  with  one  and 
the  same  saying  in  his  mouth,  to  two  several  shapes.  Before, 
He  was  not  the  Son  of  God,  by  these  very  words ;  and  now 
He  is  the  Son  of  God,  by  these  very  words  again.  He  makes 
them  serve  for  two  contrary  purposes ;  there,  he  would  make 
it  serve  for  desperation ;  and  when  that  would  not  do,  here 
he  would  make  it  serve  for  presumption ;  that  one  way  or 
other,  he  might  prevail.  In  the  former  temptation  he  came 
out  like  a  malcontent  and  a  murmurer,  but  here  lie  comes 
forth  like  a  flattering  parasite.  Well  then,  if  Thou  be  the 
Son  of  God,  as  I  doubt  not  but  Thou  art,  as  now  I  grant 
indeed,  I  was  in  some  doubt  before,  but  now  I  confess  Thou 
art,  now  I  am  of  the  Voice's  mind,  which  did  pronounce 
Thee  to  be  so  at  Thy  Baptism, — You  are  His  well-beloved 
Son,  and  He  will  be  well  pleased  with  whatsoever  You  please 
to  do.  So  now  He  shall  have  too  much  of  it,  as  before  He 
had  too  little ;  and  when  the  light  will  not  out  by  taking  away 
the  oil.  He  shall  have  too  much  of  it.  He  shall  swim  in  the 
oil  of  ostentation,  to  see  an  that  would  put  it  out. 

A  case  that  happens  to  us  all.  When  a  man  will  not  be 
presumptuous,  then  he  is  a  fit  subject  to  be  brought  unto 
despair ;  and  when  he  will  not  be  distrustful,  then  make  him 
to  presume.  If  he  will  not  superstitiously  dote  upon  the 
Church,  then  bring  him  to  that  which  our  people  are  most 
an  end  brought  unto,  make  him  not  care  for  it  at  all ;  or  if 

'  See  the  passages  from  the  Fathers  quoted  by  Barradiu-,  Harm.  Evaiig. 
ii.  67. 


62  The  devWs  pertinacity  in  temptation. 

SEEM,  not  that,  send  him  over  sea  and  make  him  dote  again.  There 
: —  might  be  many  more  instances ;  still  he  comes  in  extremes 


and  contraries,  that  if  he  be  refused  and  known  to  be  a  devil 
in  the  one,  ye  may  at  least  accept  him,  and  think  him  to  be 
an  Angel  in  the  other ;  for  who  would  think  it,  that  he  were 
the  man  that  should  tempt  anybody  to  presumption,  that 
had  before  laboured  for  distrust  ?  or  that  he  would  make  the 
flame  fly  out  of  the  chimney,  and  set  the  whole  house  a-fire, 
that  had  so  lately  set  his  foot  on  it,  and  done  his  endeavour 
to  put  it  quite  out  ?  Marry,  he  that  is  acquainted  with  the 
devil's  devices  will  think  it,  and  know  it  too ;  for  though  it 
be  not  the  same  temptation,  yet  it  is  the  same  devil  in  both 
places ;  and  the  sudden  alteration  from  one  contrary  to 
another,  is  but  to  colour  the  device  over,  and  make  us  be- 
lieve they  cannot  both  be  ill. 

But  seeing  that  by  both  the  devil  seeks  our  destruction, 
we  are  to  take  a  like  heed  of  both  ;  though  his  two  '  ifs '  be 
contrary  to  themselves,  yet  are  they  both  also  contrary  to 
the  Word  of  God,  which  will  neither  have  us  to  distrust 
Him,  nor  presume  upon  Him. 

(2.)  Secondly,  *  If  Thou  be  the  Son  of  God,'  may  be 
taken  as  an  outfacing  argument ;  as  when  we  would  impor- 
tune a  man  to  do  any  thing,  we  use  to  press  and  urge  him 
with  that  which  he  must  not  for  shame  deny ;  if  you  be 
such  and  such  a  man,  if  there  be  any  spark  of  a  good 
spirit  in  you,  if  there  be  any  honesty  in  you,  you  will  not 
refuse  to  do  it.  So  the  devil  comes  as  if  he  must  have  no 
denial  at  all,  unless  Christ  would  confess  Himself  to  be  none 
of  God's  Son,  and  then  the  devil  had  had  his  end  ;  just  as  the 

Job.  19, 12.  Jews  by  his  counsel,  I  make  no  question,  dealt  with  Pilate, '  If 
thou  let  Him  go,  thou  art  no  friend  to  Cesar,'  and, '  if  He  had 

Job.  18. 30.  not  been  a  malefactor,  we  would  never  have  brought  Him 
unto  thee.'  No,  the  devil  he  desires  you  to  do  nothing  but 
what  you  must  needs  yield  to  yourselves,  that  it  is  very 
requisite  to  be  done;  if  it  were  a  matter  unfitting,  he  would 
never  ask  it  at  your  hands  ',  and  this  is  the  strongest  tempta- 
tion of  all ;  though  it  would  not  outface  Christ,  yet  it  will 
outface  us.  And  therefore  above  all  other,  heed  is  to  be 
taken  of  an  outfacing  temptation. 

(3.)  Now,  thirdly,  if  Christ  were  the  Son  of  God,  as  the 


The  object  of  this  temptation.  63 

devil  confesses  Him  to  be,  what  had  he  to  do  with  Him  ? 

They  cry  out  ere  long,  'What  have  we  to  do  with  Thee,  0  Mat. 8.29, 

Thou  Son  of  the  living  God?'    No,  nothing  to  do  with  Him 

when  He  comes  to  torment  him.   Do  but  resist  the  devil  and 

he  will  fly  from  you,  he  will  not  come  near  you.  Marry,  an  ye 

be  willing  (as  Christ  made  Himself  here  for  our  warning  of 

the  danger)  to  go  along  with  him,  thea  he  has  to  do  with 

you  in  a  hundred  diflFerent  ways ;  be  what  sons  of  God  ye 

will,  that  one  way  or  other,  he  may  make  you,  as  himself  is, 

the  sons  of  darkness  ;  and  for  the  better  bringing  of  his  ends 

about,  he  will  be  still  sure  in  all  his  talk  to  make  au  '  if  of 

it,  and  so  wind  in  with  au  ill  consequence  at  last;  and  by 

often  bringing  it  into  question,  whether  we  be  the  sons  of 

God,  he  may  at  last  make  it  out  of  question,  that  we  are  not 

the  sons  of  God ;  bring  his  si  sis  into  ».  ne  sis  and  make  us 

like  himself.     And  so  much  for  the  first  part  of  the  devil's 

device ;    a  wonderful  and  a  strange  device,  to  persuade  us 

that  we  are  the  sons  of  God,  and  by  that  very  persuasion  to 

make  us  the  sons  of  the  devil. 

II.  For  you  shall  see  what  his  induction  is ;  'If  Thou 
be  the  Sou  of  God  cast  Thyself  down  headlong ;'  and  this 
is  the  second  part,  the  very  fiery  dart  of  the  devil's  temp- 
tation. 

And  here  we  have  three  points  to  consider. 

The  first  is,  the  ill  consequence  of  the  words,  that  if  He 
were  the  Son  of  God,  He  should  presently  give  a  leap  from 
the  pinnacle,  and  work  a  miracle. 

The  second  is,  the  presumption  which  he  persuades  Him 
to,  to  take  no  ordinary  way  to  go  down,  but  to  make  no 
more  ado  but  east  Himself  down,  and  put  Himself  upon 
providence. 

The  third  is,  that  earnest  suit  which  he  makes  for  it ;  he 
would  not  thrust  Him  down,  but  of  his  own  accord  He 
Himself  must  cast  Himself  down. 

(1.)  For  the  first  then,  it  was  no  good  consequence  we 
say,  that  if  He  were  the  Son  of  God,  He  should  presently 
cast  Himself  down.  *Ye8,'  says  the  devil,  'by  this,  all  the 
world  sliall  see  that  You  are  the  Son  of  God,  if  You  can  leap 
down  and  get  no  hurt.'  So  this  was  his  drift,  because  Christ 
was  the  Son  of  God,  to  make  Him  brag  of  it,  and  carry  it 


64  Temptation  to  arrogance  and  presumption. 

SEEM,  out  with  an  ostentation,  that  the  Son  of  God  He  was.  and 

IV 
■ '- —  not  like  other  men ;  a  device  that  he  has  for  us,  when  we  are 

somewhat  nearer  to  God  than  other  men,  persuade  us  not  to 
be  content  with  that,  but  to  blaze  it  abroad  the  world  and 
make  a  boasting  and  a  show  of  it,  as  such  do  that  love  to  be 
called  the  professors  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  dear  children  of 
God,  dearer  and  whiter  and  purer  sous,  and  so  bolder  sons, 
than  any  other  men  whatsoever.  But  to  see  now  what  a 
non  sequitur  this  is,  Christ  was  the  Son  of  God, — well  what 
of  that? — therefore  He  must  needs  shew  Himself  to  be  so, 
and  work  a  miracle  when  there  was  no  necessity  of  having 
any  wrought.  What  a  consequence  was  this  here  !  At  other 
times,  indeed,  miracles  were  done  by  Him,  they  were  all  to 
good  ends ;  but  here  it  could  be  for  no  other  end  but  vain- 
glory and  ostentation ;  no  other  use  could  have  been  made  of 
it ;  and  if  Christ  had  yielded  to  it,  or  if  any  man  else  in  the 
like  case  should  yield  to  the  devil's  temptation,  he  should 
shew  himself  indeed,  but  he  should  shew  himself  to  be  none 
of  the  sons  of  God.  So  this  is  no  good  logic,  it  is  an  argu- 
ment of  an  ill  consequence  ;  let  us  not  be  carried  away  with 
it,  if  at  any  time  it  happens  to  be  our  case,  as  here  it  was 
Christ's. 

(2.)  Second,  *  Cast  Thyself  down ;'  this  is  that  he  looked 
for,  the  very  temptation  itself,  that  being  now  aloft.  He  would 
make  no  more  ado  but  presume*^  upon  His  Father,  and  pitch 
His  head  upon  the  ground.  So  now  we  are  come  to  know 
why  he  brought  Him  up,  that  it  was  for  nothing  else  but  to 
have  Him  down  again  the  faster ;  it  was  the  way  that  he 
took  of  old  for  himself,  and  ever  since  his  device  hath  been  how 
to  get  more  after  him ;  he  would  needs  exalt  himself  above 
the  stars,  and  down  he  fell  lower  than  the  earth ;  that  if  he 
could  have  got  Christ  down  with  him  now,  he  knew  by  ex- 
perience (whatsoever  his  pretence  was)  that  all  the  Angels  of 
heaven  could  not  have  Him  up  again.  But  this  is  it  which 
we  are  here  to  observe;  by  such  dealing  as  this  was,  we  may 
see  to  what  end  all  the  devil's  exaltings  come^.  If  he  brings 
any  man  to  the  pinnacle,  it  is  but  to  send  him  down  head- 

^  See  the  quotations  from  St. Gregory  *    Diabolus   semper   ad   alia    ducit, 

the  Great,  Haymo  and  Beda  in  Barrad.      elevando  per  jactantiam,  ut  praecipitare 
Harm.  Evang.  ii.  70,  possit. — Glossa  Ordinar,  ad  locimi. 


The  devil  tempts  by  prosperity.  65 

long,  faster  than  ever  he  came  up;  by  little  and  little  he 
lifts  a  man  up,  first  to  this  preferment,  and  then  to  that,  and 
then  to  another,  and  to  a  higher  yet ;  and  so  when  he  has 
gotten  him  aloft,  he  can  send  him  downwards  again  in  an 
instant ;  not  by  degrees,  as  he  came  up,  but  like  lightning,  Lu.  lo.  18. 
as  he  came  down  himself,  and  was  undone  by  it  for  ever. 
Perhaps  he  may  let  us  alone  a  while,  and  let  us  stand  upon 
a  pinnacle,  to  our  thinking  as  safe  as  them  that  walk  upon 
the  ground ;  but  as  soon  as  a  little  wind  of  trouble  and 
adversity  comes,  then  off  we  go,  and  we  shall  be  sure  to  pay 
for  our  high  standing.  This  is  the  devil's  course  with  them 
that  are  at  league  with  him,  and  will  follow  his  devices.  Now 
God  has  taken  another  course  with  His,  for  He  humbles  a 
man  first,  and  then  He  exalts  him  afterwards.  *  He  hath 
exalted  the  humble  and  meek,'  saith  the  blessed  Virgin ;  Lu.  i.  52. 
and  '  he  that  hurableth  himself  shall  be  exalted,'  saith  our 
blessed  Saviour.  But  the  devil,  he  exalts  a  man  first,  and  Lu.  14.  il. 
then  humbles  him  after ;  lifts  him  up  on  high,  ut  lapsu 
graviore  mat,  that  he  may  cast  him  headlong  down  again. 
So  he  lifted  up  Adam  and  Eve  to  eritis  sicut  dii,  with  a  con- 
ceit that  they  should  be  gods  themselves,  the  very  height  of  Gen.  3. 5. 
perfection ;  and  when  all  came  to  all,  it  was  for  nothing  else 
but  that  he  might  bring  them  down  again  a  great  deal  lower 
than  they  were  before,  even  to  be  compared  unto  the  beasts 
that  perish. 

The  lesson  is,  that  if  we  would  not  be  cast  down  by  him, 
we  must  take  heed  of  being  any  way,  or  in  any  matter  what- 
soever, lifted  up  by  him ;  for  we  must  not  all  think  to  escape 
as  Christ  did ;  He  had  power  to  throw  the  devil  down,  and 
He  went  not  up  with  him  for  any  other  purpose  but  to  shew 
us  the  danger  and  the  hazard  men  are  in,  when  they  will 
follow  the  devil  to  a  pinnacle,  or  their  ambition,  and  other 
sins  they  love,  to  the  height.  This  one  may  be  sure  on,  that 
in  all  manner  of  sin  and  temptation  there  is  a  casting  down ; 
and  the  devil  never  allures  us  to  commit  a  sin,  bat  he  makes 
us  withal  to  throw  ourselves  down  headlong ;  headlong  from 
the  spirit  to  the  flesh,  from  the  commandments  of  God  to  the 
vanities  of  the  world,  from  high  virtues  to  base  vices,  and  so 
from  being  the  sous  of  God  and  of  light,  to  become  the  sons 
of  hell  and  darkness ;  and  he  never  allures  us  upwards  the 

COSIN.  Y 


66  All  sin  is  voluntary. 

SEEM,  other  way  but  to  cast  ourselves  downwards.     And  this  is  the 

rv.  ,    "^ 
second. 

(3.)  But  now,  in  the  third  point,  there  is  a  little  more  com- 
fort yet,  that  the  devil  must  become  a  suitor  to  Christ,  that 
He  would  cast  Himself  down.  A  man  may  wonder,  an  the 
devil  had  such  a  mind  to  have  Christ  down,  why  he  did  not 
throw  Him  down  himself?  But  alas!  it  was  beyond  his 
^  power,  that ;  or  if  it  had  not,  yet  that  would  not  have  served 
his  turn;  for  then  Christ  should  not  have  been  in  the  fault, 
and  it  was  not  the  fall,  but  the  fault  that  he  looked  after. 
It  is  our  case,  the  devil  winds  us  up,  and  he  would  gladly 
have  us  down  again,  but  he  would  have  us  to  cast  ourselves 
down,  or  else  the  fall  may  do  us  some  hurt,  perhaps,  but  it 
can  do  him  no  good.  It  is  our  sin  that  he  looks  after,  and 
he  knows  it  too  well,  that  there  must  go  two  persons  to  a  sin, 
or  else  it  will  never  be  done.  It  is  the  devil  and  man  that 
make  up  a  sin ;  it  is  not  the  devil  alone ;  and  sure  it  is,  he 
can  never  throw  us  down  unless  we  consent  on  to  it  our- 
selves ^.  And  therefore,  though  it  be  one  of  St.  Chrysostom's 
paradoxes,  yet  it  is  a  marvellous  good  one  and  a  Christian- 
like, that  nemo  ladiiur  nisi  a  seipso  ^,  that  if  we  throw  not 
ourselves  away,  the  devil  hath  no  power  to  do  it^;  which  is 
no  more  than  St.  Austin'  and  all  the  ancient  Fathers  say,  that 
omne  peccatum  est  voluntarium,  when  we  sin  the  fault  is  in 
our  own  wills,  for  we  should  not  have  consented,  and  then 
no  sin  would  follow ;  and  therefore  it  is  a  wicked  and  a  most 
pernicious  opinion  that  some  of  our  new  masters  have  brought 
up  of  late,  (an  opinion  fit  for  devils  and  not  for  Christians,) 
that  some  men  are  forced  and  necessitated  to  sin,  and 
throw  themselves  away,  whether  they  will  or  no^.  I  shall 
beseech,  you  to  take  heed  that  they  which  teach  you  such 

'  Dicit  autem  [diabolus]  '  Mitte  Te ;  ''  Allusion  is  here  made  to  the  recent 

quia  vox  diaboli,  qui  semper  homines  proceedingsof  the  Synod  of  Dort,  whose 

cadere   deorsum  desiderat,  persuadere  decisions    had    attracted    considerable 

potest;    praecipitare   non    potest.  —  S.  interest    throughout    England.      The 

Hieron.  in  Tho.  Aquin.  Cat.  Aur.  ad  third   of  these    Articles,  treating   *of 

locum.  man's  free  will  in  the  state  of  nature,' 

K  See  the  Homily  bearing  this  title,  asserts  '  That  by  Adam's  fall  his  pos- 

in  the  edition  of  Erasmus,  vol.  v.  fol.  terity  lost  their  free-will,  being  put  to 

213,  b.  edit.  fol.  1536,  or  in  Saville's  an  unavoidable  necessity  to  do  or  not 

edition,  vii.  36.  to  do,  whatsoever  they  do  or  do  not, 

^  A  few  words  are  here  nearly  ille-  whether  it  be  good  or  evil,  being  there- 

gible  in  the  MS.  unto  predestinated  by  the  eternal  and 

'  0pp.  viii,  346,  Z^T,  &c.  efi'ectual  secret  decree  of  God.* 


No  absolute  decree  to  sin.  67 

things  be  not  listened  after,  for  they  savour  of  the  lake,  and 
your  souls  will  be  destroyed  with  the  scent.  It  is  not  true ; 
God  doth  not,  and  the  devil  cannot,  necessitate  anybody  to 
sin ;  and  therefore  we  see  in  Genesis  that  he  did  not  cram 
the  forbidden  fruit  into  their  mouths,  whether  they  would  or 
no,  but  he  persuades  them  to  take  it,  and  eat  it  themselves ; 
for  full  well  he  knew  their  own  eating,  and  their  own  wilful- 
ness, and  neither  his  subtlety,  nor  his  violence,  would  get 
them  the  fall.  And  when  it  is  said  in  the  Gospel,  that  the 
Evil  Spirit  enters  into  a  man,  it  is  not  said  that  he  breaks 
open  the  door,  or  that  he  does  so  much  as  draw  the  latch, 
but  that  he  finds  it  empty  and  open  already,  and  all  things  Mat.  12.44. 
swept  and  garnished,  ready  for  his  entertainment.  So  that 
if  we  reach  not  out  our  hands  to  welcome  him  when  he 
comes,  and  set  not  our  doors  open  to  let  him  in  when  he 
knocks,  his  temptations  can  never  do  us  hurt;  he  can  but 
entreat  us,  as  here  he  did  Christ,  and  if  we  fall,  the  fault  is 
our  own,  we  cast  ourselves  down  headlong  into  misery  and 
sin.     That's  for  the  devil's  part. 

Then  for  God's  part.     "We  may  be  sure  that  He,  of  all 
others,  will  not  cast  us  down,  if  we  will  keep  ourselves  up ; 
for  He  desires  not  either  the  death,  or  the  overthrow  of  any 
man.     And  therefore,  as   it  was  His   command   of  old   in 
Deuteronomy,  that  when  a  material  house  were  built,  there  Deut.  22.  a 
should  be  battlements  made  upon  the  roof,  for  fear  of  falling 
down  when  any  man  went  up,  and  spilling  his  blood ;  so  in 
His  spiritual  buildings.  He  hath  set  Himself  and  His  own 
assistance  for  our  battlement,  hath  made  a  hedge  about  us,  as 
the  devil  said  concerning  Job ;  that  unless  we  will  take  our  Job  1. 10. 
raise '  ourselves  and  leap  over  it,  or  break  it  down  and  throw  '  race 
ourselves  headlong  through  it,  we   are  safe  enough.     This 
Christ  knew  well  enough,  and  therefore  He  trusted  to  this, 
that  we  might  learn  of  Him,  how  ill  a  thing  it  is  to  trust  to 
ourselves.     And  that's  the  third  thing  and  the  last  there. 

Now  you  shall  see  what  course  the  devil  takes  to  get  this 
trust  away  from  Him ;  and  so  we  come  to  the  third  part  of 
the  text ;  the  cost  which  he  does  bestow  upon  his  temptation, 
to  make  it  enter  the  better. 

III.  He  comes  with  a  Psalm-book  in  his  hand  and  a  piece 
of  Scripture  in  his  mouth  to  tell  Him  that  since  He  would 

F  2 


68  Temptation  either  to  distrust  or  presumption. 

SEEM,  needs  trust,  he  would  set  Him  a-trusting,  He  should  trust  as 

^ much  as  He  would ;  that  is,  He  should  trust  too  much.    And 

as  in  the  former  temptation  he  brought  Him  to  the  waters  of 
Num.  20.  Meribah,  to  murmur  and  distrust ;  so  here  he  brings  Him  to 
^^'  ^^        the  waters  of  Massah,  to  be  wanton  and  trust  beyond  His 

Th' V    17    7 

battlements.  By  the  one  he  would  persuade  both  Him  and 
us,  as  St.  Augustine  saith,  Deum  non  affuturum  ubi  promisit, 
that  God  hath  no  care  of  us  according  to  His  promise ;  by 
the  other,  he  would  persuade  us,  Deum.  affuturum  ubi  non 
promisit,  that  God  would  take  any  care  of  us,  even  against 
His  promise :  and  so  by  the  first  he  slandereth  the  God 
of  heaven,  as  if  He  were  some  step-father,  a  hard  man  and 
a  god  of  iron ;  and  by  this  he  slanders  Him,  as  if  He  were  a 
father  to  be  commanded  at  a  beck,  and  a  god  of  clouts  to  be 
put  to  base  and  contemptible  offices.  First,  that  we  are  none 
of  His  children,  and  that  if  we  do  trust  in  Him,  He  will  fail 
us  at  the  end ;  and  then  that  we  are  such  beloved  children, 
such  dear  darlings,  that  trust  in  Him,  and  presume  upon  Him 
as  much  as  we  will,  throw  ourselves  down  headlong  into  what 
sin  we  list.  He  will  be  our  good  father  still,  He  will  have 
mercy  at  last,  and  will  never  suffer  us  to  come  unto  any  hurt 
for  it.  This  is  the  sum  and  the  scope  of  his  tempting  speech. 
Now  if  the  time  would  serve,  we  should  consider  it  a  little 
more  narrowly;  I  will  but  begin  it  and  end  it  at  a  more 
[convenient  opportunity.] 

*  For  it  is  written.'  With  the  self-same  armour  that  Christ 
bare  off  his  other  dart,  with  alleging  of  Scripture,  doth  the 
devil  sharpen  this  dart,  and  throws  it  in  to  maintain  his 
argument  that  presumption  is  good  divinity :  since  Christ 
brought  Scripture  to  resist  him,  he  would  make  his  part  good 
with  Scripture  too;  and  therefore  here  he  brings  it  in.  Now 
it  is  to  be  noted  he  doth  not  so  (as  I  told  you  at  first)  in  any 
of  his  other  temptations,  and  therefore  we  are  to  look  for 
some  great  matter  from  him  here  in  this.  A  great  matter 
indeed,  and  a  great  deal  to  be  said  of  it,  so  much  that  it  will 
require  one  whole  sermon  for  itself;  and  therefore  I  dare  but 
name  it  now,  and  tell  you  in  brief  that  the  reason  why  the 
devil  hath  bestowed  such  cost  upon  this  temptation,  more 
than  upon  the  rest,  is,  because  he  knows  a  presumptuous  sin  is 
a  costly  sin  indeed  to  us,  and  would  be  gainful  to  him  above 


Presumption  a  deadly  sin.  69 

any  else.  Therefore  it  is  that,  before  all  others,  David  desires  Ps.  19. 13. 
God  to  keep  him  from  presumptuous  sins;  for  if  it  comes  to 
this  once,  the  devil  has  his  end,  and  we  have  ours  an  end, 
that  he  had,  by  the  very  same  sin ;  which  is  a  fearful  down- 
fal  from  heaven  and  from  the  mercies  of  God  withal.  The 
sin  of  presumption,  as  divines^  say,  being  one,  or  very  near 
one,  of  the  sins  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  shall  not 
easily  be  forgiven.  For  a  conclusion  then,  since  we  see  thus  Mat.l2.3i. 
much  already,  that  above  all  other  sins  which  the  devil  would 
have  us  commit,  this  is  that  he  sets  his  greatest  care  upon> 
and,  as  we  say,  spends  his  wits,  his  learning,  his  cunning  in 
the  Scriptures,  his  wet  and  his  dry  upon  it ;  in  that  regard 
are  we  also  to  set  our  greatest  care  against  his,  to  set  watch 
and  ward  about  our  souls;  and  above  all  other  things,  to 
keep  ourselves  from  presumptuous  sins,  that  is,  from  a  wilful 
casting  ourselves  into  sin ;  and  when  we  stand  safe  already 
with  God's  graces  and  favours,  like  battlements  round  about 
us,  to  break  them  all  down,  and  throw  ourselves  headlong 
into  mischief,  where  God  knows  what  will  become  of  us. 
Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves,  and  hope  for  Angels  to  come  and 
take  us  up  again,  because  the  devil  hath  here  alleged  Scrip- 
ture for  it ;  for  if  you  will  but  look  into  your  Psalter  anon,  Ps.  91. 11, 
after  you  are  gone,  you  shall  find  that  he  hath  both  abused 
us,  and  the  place  too,  and  hath  cast  out  the  principal  matter 
that  made  against  him,  for  that  Psalm  does  not  say  that  the 
Angels  shall  have  an  absolute  charge  either  of  Him  or  us,  a 
charge  without  any  limitation  at  all ;  that  they  must  hold  us 
up,  come  we  down  which  way  we  will,  headlong  or  any  way 
over  God's  bounds  which  He  hath  set  us;  but  that  they 
should  hold  us  up  in  all  His  ways.  We  must  keep  us  here, 
and  then  they  will  look  to  us.  So  that  out  of  God's  way,  the 
Angels  have  no  charge  over  us. 

The  way  then  will  be  to  keep  us  there  in  His  ways,  and  not 
to  run  a  wanton  course  in  our  own  ;  and  then  we  shall  be 
sure  of  them ;  they  shall  stretch  their  wings  over  us,  and 
pitch  their  tents  round  about  us  to  defend  us.  They  shall 
preserve  us  from  the  snare  which  we  see  not,  as  it  is  in  that 
Psalm,  From  the  terror  of  the  night,  and  from  the  arrow  that 

'  S.  Thorn.  Aquin.  2a.  2ae.  q.  14.  dist.  43,  and  Estius  in  locum,  ii.  441, 
art.    1.    Pet.    Lonib.    Sentent.  lib.   2.      edit.  1615. 


70 


Trust  to  be  placed  in  God  alone. 


SEEM. 
IV. 

Ps.91.  5,6. 


Ps.  147. 
11. 


flieth  by  day,  (and  which  at  this  time  we  have  great  need  on™,) 
from  that  damon  meridianus,  the  plague  that  killeth  in  the 
darkness,  and  the  sickness  that  destroyeth  in  the  noon-day. 
All  these  comforts,  and  more  than  these,  even  the  comforts 
of  heaven,  shall  be  to  them  that  so  put  their  trust  in  God  as 
that  they  fear  Him  withal,  and  walk  in  His  ways,  according 
to  that  of  the  Psalmist,  Blessed  are  they  that  fear  the  Lord 
and  put  their  trust  in  His  mercy ;  fear  Him  first  and  keep 
His  way,  and  then  trust  in  Him  that  He  will  keep  us. 

To  which  fear  and  to  which  trust,  and  from  all  other  fears 
and  trusts  but  these,  He  bring  us  That  hath  purchased  mercy 
for  us,  Christ  Jesus,  &c. 


"  From  this  passage  we  may  con- 
jecture that  this  Sermon  was  preached 
in  A.D.  1625,  in  which  summer,  accord- 
ing to  Rushworth,  (i.  171.  edit,  1721,) 
"  the  pestilence  raged  in  London.  At 
the  entrance  of  the  late  king  [James 


the  First]  there  was  a  great  plague 
in  the  City,  but  this  was  far  greater, 
the  greatest  that  ever  was  known  in 
the  nation."  A  passage  in  the  follow- 
ing Sermon,  upon  the  same  text,  is  yet 
more  definite  ;  see  p.  78. 


SERMON   V. 


St.  Matthew  iv.  6. 

...For  it  is  written,  He  shall  give  His  Angels  charge  over  Thee; 
and  with  their  hands  they  shall  hold  Thee  up,  lest  at  any  time 
Thou  dash  Thy  foot  against  a  stone. 

[.  .  .  Me  shall  give  His  Angels  charge  concerning  Thee ;  and  in  their 
hands  they  shall  hear  Thee  up,  lest  at  any  titne  Thou  dash  Thy  foot 
against  a  stone.'] 

We  began  this  text  before,  and  in  our  meditations  we  saw 
what  wreaths  and  windings  the  old  serpent  had,  to  turn  him- 
self round,  or  at  length,  to  pull  in,  or  let  out,  as  he  listed ; 
that  first  he  would  have  Christ  not  to  trust  God  at  all,  but 
to  shift  for  Himself,  and  make  the  stones  His  bread;  and  then 
to  do  nothing  else  but  trust  Him,  do  nothing  Himself  but  go 
down  headlong  into  mischief,  and  rely  upon  God's  mercy  for 
it  that  He  should  never  take  any  hurt  by  the  matter :  for 
lest  any  man  should  tell  Him  that  presumption  in  such  a 
case  is  no  good  divinity,  he  will  prove  it  out  of  the  written 
Word  of  God,  You  must  not  deny  it,  for  it  is  written.  He 
shall  give  His  Angels  charge  over  Thee,  &c. 

St.  Paul  tells  us  that  the  devil^s  temptations  are  fiery 
darts,  and  this  was  one  of  them.  The  fire  that  prepared  it  Eph,  6. 16 
went  before,  and  it  was  still  wrought  upon  that  anvil,  si  sis 
Filius  Dei,  *  if  Thou  be  the  Son  of  God ;'  he  would  try  Him 
here.  And  the  dart  being  so  wrought,  we  have  seen  also 
how  it  was  cast ;  it  was  cast  when  he  bade  Christ  cast  Him- 
self down  headlong,  *If  Thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  cast  Thyself 
down  headlong; '  so  far  we  went  already.  Now  are  we  to  come 
to  the  third  point,  which  is  the  very  point  of  the  dart,  the 
sharpening  it,  and  the  cost  bestowed  upon  it,  to  make  it 


7'2  Division  of  the  subject. 

SEEM,   enter  the  better;  that  is,  the  place  of  Scripture  which  here 

the  devil  does  allege  to  persuade  Christ,  and  every  one  else 

that  is  the  son  of  God,  that  they  may  safely  presume  upon 
His  mercy  for  anything;  for  it  is  written,  'He  shall  give 
His  Angels  charge,'  &c. 

Which  words  we  must  not  now  handle  as  if  we  had 
David's  Psalter  in  our  hand,  and  the  ninety-first  Psalm  for 
our  text ;  for  then  perhaps  we  should  work  a  little  higher ; 
but  we  are  to  consider  them  as  they  are  in  the  devil's  mouth, 
and  here  in  this  place  alleged  and  perverted  for  his  own 
purpose,  as  far  as  they  do,  or  do  not,  concern  that  which  he 
would  have  had  them;  whether  it  be  so  good  trusting  to  God 
or  no,  as  that  if  we  be  His  sons  we  may  leap  over  the  battle- 
ments and  bounds  that  He  hath  set  us,  and  throw  ourselves 
headlong  into  what  sin  and  danger  we  please. 

I  will  proceed  in  this  order,  to  let  you  first  see  the  devil's 
cunning  in  alleging  any  Scripture  at  all,  *It  is  written;' 

And  secondly,  his  master-cunning  in  alleging  such  a 
choice  and  master-piece  of  Scripture,  so  full  of  comfort  and 
promises  as  this  is,  *  He  shall  give,'  &c. 

And  thirdly,  his  falsehood  in  leaving  out  that  which  made 
against  him,  for  the  charge  and  the  promises  were  that  the 
Angels  should  keep  Him  in  all  His  ways;  the  devil  he  leaves 
out  that,  and  says,  they  shall  keep  Him  howsoever,  whether 
He  keep  His  ways  or  not ; 

And  lastly,  his  fraud  and  malice  in  perverting  the  whole 
sense  of  the  text,  as  if  it  served  to  make  presumption  lawful, 
and  to  rely  upon  God's  providence  for  any  thing ;  good  reli- 
gion, whenas  in  such  cases  as  these,  it  was  mere  devil-divinity. 
These  four  to  be  our  heads  that  we  take ;  from  which  divers 
other  branches  will  spring,  which  we  mind  to  reach  at  as  we 
go  along.  Of  these  then,  that  we  may  speak  to  the  honour 
of  Almighty  God,  and  to  the  edification  of  our  own  souls, 
I  shall  desire  you  to  join  with  me  in  humble  and  hearty 
prayer,  &c. 

THE  BIDDING  OF  THE  COMMON  PRAYERS. 

Pater  Nosier. 

1.  'For  it  is  written.'  That  is  the  first  thing  I  propounded, 
the  devil's  cunning  to  allege  Scripture  for  what  he  said. 


The  character  of  the  temptation  changed.  .  73 

To  make  his  temptation  take  the  better,  he  comes  in  with 

his  authority,  and  his  scriptum  est ;  he  will  shew  you  a  place 

of  Scripture  for  it,  a  text  out  of  David's  Psalms,  that  you 

may  see  he  counsels  you  to  nothin<;  but  what  the  word 

of  God  would  bear  you  out  in.    When  St.  Paul  would  com-  l  Cor.  9.  8. 

mend  a  thing,  says  he,  *  Do  I  say  so  ?  doth  not  the  law  say 

the  same  ? '   so  says  the  devil  here,  Do  I  persuade  you  to 

this?  and  doth  not  the  Book  of  Psalms  commend  the  same? 

He  speaks  not  after  the  manner  of  men,  he,  but  he  has  the 

Scripture  at   his  fingers'  end,  so    it   is   no   more   he   that 

speaketh,  but  the  Spirit  of  God  That  is  within  him. 

In  his  first  temptation  he  came  like  a  murmuring  mal- 
content, without  any  Scripture  in  his  mouth  at  all;  that 
would  not  do;  Christ  quotes  him  a  place  of  Scripture  and  he 
was  gone.  But  then  he  studies  on  the  matter  which  way  to 
come  again.  Scriptum  est?  says  the  devil,  It  is  written? 
said  Christ  so?  And  lie  was  acquainted  with  the  Scripture 
too?  Well,  then,  since  Scripture  was  so  gracious  with  Him,  he 
could  bring  in  Scripture  as  well  as  Christ ;  and  so  bethinking 
himself  presently  he  throws  away  his  stones,  and  gets  him  a 
Psalm-book  in  his  hand,  puts  off  his  foul  sliape  of  a  devil  and 
a  murmurer,  and  gets  him  into  the  weeds  of  a  holy  professor, 
and  so  with  a  demure  look,  and  set  countenance,  he  comes 
back  again  this  second  time  to  Christ,  tells  Him  that  he  had 
heard  Him  erewhiles  talk  of  Scripture,  and  that  therefore  he 
had  brought  Scripture  for  Him,  as  liking  very  well  of  that 
godly  course  of  quoting  Scripture  for  what  was  said  in  any 
thing ;  that  He  was  deceived  in  him  if  He  thought  him  to 
be  an  unlettered  man,  or  one  of  those  that  cared  not  for  the 
Scriptures,  for  he  had  here  brought  them  along  with  him, 
and  could  turn  Him  to  the  place,  and  quote  Him  chapter  and 
verse  too  for  what  he  said,  *  For  it  is  written.  He  shall  give 
His  Angels  charge  over  Thee,'  &c. 

And  all  these,  good  words  and  godly  ;  but  when  they  come 
out  of  a  hypocrite's  mouth,  or  a  devil's  mouth,  let  them  be 
what  words  they  will,  they  are  but  wind. 

It  is  not  this  bragging  age,  nor  this  vainglorious  generation, 
that  they  can  quote  Scripture  so  fast,  which  will  carry  it 
away,  for  we  see  the  devil  reads  the  Scriptures  as  well  as  we, 
and  he  can  allege  ye  Samuel's  own  words,  iusoinuch  that  i  Sam.  28. 

11,  14,  &c. 


74  The  devil  misapplies  Scripture. 

SEEM,  they  shall  not  know  him  from  Samuel;  and  as  for  David^s 
'- —  Psalms  and  ye  ask  him  for  them,  why  he  can  sing  them  all 


by  heart,  or  else  he  has  them  ready  with  him  in  his  hands ; 

and  Christ  he  knows,  and  Paul  he  knows,  he  tells  them  so 

Actsl9.l5.  in  the  Acts;  he  was  well  acquainted  with  them,  that  is  to  say, 

that  there  was  neither  Christ  in  His  Gospel,  nor  St.  Paul  in 

his  Epistles,  but  he  knew  them  very  well  and  could  tell  what 

they  had  preached,  and  what  they  had  written  too ;  and  yet 

for  all  this  knowledge  in  the  Scripture  he  was  no  better  than 

a  hypocrite  and  a  devil  still. 

Not  that  we  would  patronise  any  ignorance  in  this  kind, 

or  discourage  them  that  are  studious  to  know  the  Scriptures ; 

but  that  we  would  not  have  them  rest  there,  to  think  if  they 

had  got  that,  they  had  got  all,  or  to  use  them  for  a  colour  to 

make  the  world  think  they  are  such  goodly  professors,  when 

there  is  no  such  matter,  to  play  the  hypocrites  with  them,  or 

bring  them  forth  to  hold  argument  against  Christ,  or  against 

His  Church,  as  you  know  there  are,  that  so  use  them ;  for 

this  is  the  devil's  way ;  we  see  he  can  quote  Scripture  after 

this  manner.     And  be  this  said  for  the  first  point,  '  It  is 

written.' 

'  II.  Second,  Now  what  is  written  ?  *  He  shall  give  His  Angels 

charge  over  Thee,'  &c.     A  place  of  the  greatest  comfort,  and 

the  fittest  to  make  a  man  presume,  that  he  could  have  picked 

out ;  and  this  is  the  second  thing. 

It  is  his  subtilty  not  to  choose  every  Psalm,  but  one  that 

should  have  most  comfort,  and  most  grace  in  it  of  any  other ; 

the  ninety-first  Psalm,  than  which  there  is  not  one  fuller  of 

fair  promises,  whether  we  regard  things  for  this  life,  or  for 

the  life  to  come.    And  of  this  Psalm  he  takes  not  every  verse, 

but  takes  that  which  is  of  as  much  mercy  and  grace  as  any 

one  thing  can  be,  that  of  the  protection  of  Angels. 

For  mark  you,  what  mercies  and  what  promises  there  are, 

and  ever  have  been,  in  this  protection.  There  shall  be  Angels 

ascending  and  descending  to  take  care  of  us  as  we  lay,  as  in 

Gen.  28. 12.  Jacob's  ladder.    The  Angel  of  the  Lord  shall  go  before  us, 

Ex.  14, 19.  as  he  did  before  the  Israelites  ;  they  shall  kill  up  our  enemies, 

2 Kings  19.  round  about  us,  as  they  did  the  Egyptians  and  other  nations; 

36;  i^Maci^^^y  shall  stretch  their  wings  over  us  to  preserve  us,  they 

'^-  ^^-         shall  pitch  their  tents  about  our  dwellings  to  defend  us,  and 
Jer.  6.  8. 


The  doctrine  of  Faith  misapplied.  75 

their  protection  shall  not  reach  to  our  beads  only,  but  our 
very  feet  shall  be  safe,  and  in  their  hands  they  shall  bear 
them  up,  that  they  shall  not  trip  against  a  stone ;  they  will 
not  warn  us  only,  that  there  is  a  stone  in  the  way,  but  they 
will  (as  Christ  said  they  should)  remove  and  gather  them  out 
of  the  way  for  us;  and  last  of  all,  that  they  shall  not  do  all  this 
out  of  courtesy,  or  because  they  are  lovers  of  mankind,  nor 
shall  not  at  their  pleasure  leave  off  when  they  list,  but  by 
special  mandate  and  charge  they  are  and  shall  be  bound  to 
do  it,  they  have  a  precept  for  it. 

All  these  goodly  and  gracious  promises  are  comprehended 
in  this  charge  and  protection  of  the  Angels;  and  all  these 
doth  the  devil  here  abuse,  as  we  shall  see  anon. 

In  the  mean  while,  this  is  not  the  only  place  of  mercy  that 
the  devil  has  got  by  heart.  He  came  to  Christ  here,  with  a 
Psalm  of  mercy,  how  comes  he  to  us  ?  Marry,  with  a  Psalm 
of  mercy  too,  and  he  will  make  it  out  of  the  New  Testament 
the  rather,  because  we  live  not  under  the  Old  Law.  He  will 
turn  Gospeller  too ;  any  thing  to  bring  his  ends  to  pass. 
His  Psalm  shall  begin  Quicumque  crediderit,  salvabitur,  out  of 
St.  Mark,  Whosoever  will  be  saved  he  must  believe  rightly,  Mark  16. 
and  that  is  enough.  The  next  verse  shall  be  out  of  St. 
Matthew,  Cast  your  care  upon  God,  for  He  careth  for  you.  Mat.  6. 
and  then  you  may  cast  yourselves  where  you  list.  Another 
verse  out  of  St. Paul,  You  are  justified  by  faith,  and  Christ  Rom.  3. 
hath  set  you  free  from  the  law,  come  no  more  under  bondage.  * 
And  it  is  not  I  that  make  up  this  Psalm,  or  pick  out  these 
places  for  him ;  look  abroad  into  the  world  and  see  whether 
he  hath  taught  a  great  number  of  silly  men  to  sing  it, 
whether  their  mouths  be  not  readier  for  these  sayings  than 
for  any  else.  Aye,  aye,  ye  may  talk  of  works,  that  is  a 
popish  argument,  but  let  a  man  believe  faithfully,  and  he 
shall  be  justified  well  enough ;  we  are  the  free-born  sons  of 
God,  and  therefore  ye  shall  put  no  yoke  upon  us,  for  they 
whom  Christ  hath  set  free  are  free  indeed.  Free  from  what  ? 
from  good  works  and  obedience  to  Christ's  law?  No;  but 
from  sin  and  the  slavery  of  Satan.  So  the  words  in  them- 
selves are  indeed  the  most  comfortable  sayings  that  a  Chris- 
tian can  hear,  and  most  excellent  use  there  is  that  may  be 
made  of  them ;    but  when  the  devil   and  a  hypocrite  get 


76  The  devil  misquotes  Scripture. 

SERM.  them  into  their  mouths  there  is  no  listening  after  them,  they 
'- are  temptations  and  snares  unto  men ;  and  what  should  have 


been  unto  them  for  their  advantage,  may  quickly  become 
unto  them  an  occasion  of  falling,  that  is,  as  it  is  here  in  the 
text,  of  falling  down  headlong  into  sin.  And  be  this  said  for 
the  second  point ;  that  of  all  other  Scriptures,  these  which 
should  have  the  best  use  made  of  them,  he  and  his  disciples, 
they  that  learn  it  of  him,  (for  they  can  learn  it  of  nobody 
else,)  make  the  worst. 

Now  out  of  these  two  we  have  this  use  to  make,  that  to  be 
cunning  in  Scriptures  is  no  such  mark  of  the  child  of  God 

'  persuade  as  some  men  would  bear  us  in  hand^  withal;  and  that,  though 
the  devil  hath  indeed  a  grace  with  them  that  are  profane, 
with  some  vain  youths  of  the  court,  ungodly  men,  to  set  them 
a-scofl&ng  at  the  Scriptures,  and  to  believe  nothing,  yet  with 
others  that  have  the  Scriptures  in  more  high  reverence,  he 
goes  another  way  to  work,  making  it  unto  them  (without 

2Cor.2.i6.  great  heed  and  care  taken)  not  as  it  is,  in  itself,  the  savour  of 
life  unto  life,  but  the  savour  of  death  unto  death  ;  which  God 
in  His  mercy  keep  from  us  all.  So  I  come  to  the  third  point. 
III.  Third,  And  the  third  is  the  fraud  and  the  falsehood 
that  here  the  devil  uses  in  his  quotation :  to  leave  out  the 
chief  matter  of  all,  the  matter  that  made  against  him,  and  the 
matter,  indeed,  whereon  all  the  Angels'  charge  is  grounded. 
The  Psalm  runs,  '  He  shall  give  His  Angels  charge  over  Thee, 
to  keep  Thee  in  all  Thy  ways ;'  and  the  devil  makes  it  run, 
He  shall  give  His  angels  charge  over  Thee,  whether  Thou 
keep  Thy  ways  or  no;  leaves  that  quite  out,  that  keeping  of  the 
ways,  for  the  truth  is,  it  would  have  spoiled  his  whole  tempta- 
tion. That  if  any  one  should  take  offence  and  scandal  now 
by  this,  that  he  hears  the  devil  quote  Scripture  as  well  as 
Christ,  and  therefore  that  nobody  knows  well  what  to  make 
of  them,  and  in  his  blasphemy  say  they  are  divided,  and  that 
one  Scripture  is  on  Christ's  side,  and  another  on  the  devil's 

iCor.  1.12.  side,  and  so  makes  one  of  Paul,  and  another  of  Apollos,  and 
another  of  Cephas,  and  another  of  any  thing ;  if  any  man,  I 
say,  shall  thus  be  scandalized  by  the  devil's  bringing  in  of 
Scripture  for  himself,  here  is  his  answer  for  him,  that  it  is 
not  Scripture  and  Scripture,  but  Scripture  and  perverted 
Scripture,  that  it  seems  to  be  divided. 


Why  the  devil  misquotes  Scripture.  77 

By  any  means  let  not  such  a  thought  enter  into  us,  that 
were  a  worse  mischief  than  the  other ;  for  as  it  is  a  snare  to 
see  the  devil  so  ready  with  Scripture,  so  it  is  a  worse  snare  to 
think  that  Christ  is  any  way  divided,  and  to  set  the  Scrip- 
tures together  by  the  ears.  We  must  know  that  here  the 
tempter  played  the  devil  right,  in  leaving  out  that  which 
would  have  made  all  even,  that  they  might  keep  Him  in  all 
His  ways  ;  and  had  he  but  quoted  that,  the  Scriptures  would 
have  agreed  well  enough,  all  had  been  for  Christ,  and  no 
offence  need  to  have  been  taken  at  them. 

But  so  it  is,  the  devil  leaves  it  out;  and  so  true  it  is 
withal,  that  as  he  has  a  rack  for  some  places  of  Scripture  to 
stretch  them  out  upon  the  tenters,  till  they  crack  again,  as  it 
is  said  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles ;  so  here  he  has  his  wrest  for  other 
places,  to  pull  them  in,  a  device  that  the  musician  has  to 
make  the  string  sound  high  or  low  at  his  pleasure.  He  can 
add  as  he  sees  cause,  and  he  can  take  away  from  the  word  of 
God,  contrary  to  God's  own  and  express  command.  t^^Vq^.^* 

Now  let  us  see  what  cause  he  had  to  leave  those  words  out.  Deut.'4.  2; 

12  82 
Marry,  great  cause,  to  bring  his  own  ends  about,  for  by  this 

means  he  would  persuade  us  that  the  Angels  here  had  an 
absolute  charge  over  us,  without  any  limitation  at  all,  and 
that  they  must  take  care  of  us,  take  we  what  way  we  please^ 
cast  ourselves  down  headlong,  or  any  way ;  no  matter  for 
keeping  those  ways  that  God  has  set  us  in,  to  walk  uprightly 
in  them ;  but  keep  them,  or  not  keep  them,  the  Angels  shall 
keep  us  however.  And  this  was  the  height  of  his  tempta- 
tion, and  the  true  reason  why  he  left  out  those  words. 

For  had  he  cited  them,  '  to  keep  Thee  in  all  Thy  ways,*  a 
man  would  have  thought  there  had  been  some  ways  to  keep, 
and  not  to  take  a  strange  headlong  way,  and  throw  himself 
from  the  pinnacle.  Certain  it  is  that  God  has  made  a  way 
down,  and  if  we  keep  us  not  to  that,  the  Angels  are  dis- 
charged of  their  office  from  keeping  us,  and  they  will  look 
no  more  after  us.  The  way  from  the  pinnacle  was  to  go 
down  the  ordinary  way  by  the  stairs,  that  God  had  appointed 
to  be  made  for  that  purpose  ;  and  not  to  leap  over  the  battle- 
ments at  once,  and  dash  a  man's  head  against  the  stones,  in 
hope  that  the  Angels  will  hold  him  up.  Shew  me  where 
God  ever  appointed  any  such  way.     This  is  all  in  a  parable 


78  The  ordinary  means  to  be  employed. 

SEEM,  yet;  the  meaning  is,  that  God  has  appointed  ordinary  means 

'■ for  us  to  stand  and  preserve  ourselves   in. the  v»^ays  of  His 

commandments ;  and  He  will  not  have  His  providence 
tempted  by  our  wilful  falling  into  sin  and  danger;  if  we 
will  keep  us  in  His  ways,  so  it  is;  if  not,  He  is  not  bound 
to  keep  us  in  ours.  We  light  upon  a  fit  time  for  one  thing ; 
the  time  of  God's  heavy  hand  upon  this  kingdom  by  plague 
and  pestilence  %  and  well  it  is  for  them  that  are  troubled  with 
it,  to  cast  themselves  upon  God,  and  to  put  their  whole  trust 
in  His  mercy,  using  notwithstanding  those  means  which  He 
has  appointed,  and  to  be  as  resolute  in  a  godly  courage  as 
Job  was  in  the  like  case,  that  though  God  would  kill  him, 
Job  13. 15,  yet  he  would  trust  in  Him.  But  for  them  now  that  are  not 
in  this  danger,  not  cast  into  it  by  God,  to  cast  themselves 
into  it,  to  run,  as  the  humour  is  among  some,  upon  the 
naked  point  of  so  devouring  a  sword,  and  to  use  no  means 
to  avoid  it,  but  to  set  up  their  rest  upon  a  wild  conceit  of 
predestination,  that  God  will  work  His  work,  and  that  men 
do  not  well  to  be  so  scrupulous,  but  if  they  be  appointed  to 
it  they  shall  have  it,  and  if  they  have  a  strong  faith  (as  they 
say)  perhaps  they  shall  never  have  it, — this  is  a  mere  mad- 
ness, a  tempting  of  God,  and  a  presuming  upon  His  provi- 
dence, without  any  warrant  but  that  which  the  devil  signs. 

And  so  in  other  things  throughout  a  whole  Christian 
man's  life,  it  is  the  like  case,  God  will  not  be  grated  upon 
and  overleaped  with  presumption ;  He  will  have  us  use 
those  means  and  ways  that  He  has  set  us,  or  else  He  will 
not  be  troubled  with  us,  to  acknowledge  us  and  keep  us 
for  His  own. 

In  Genesis  there  is  a  ladder  set  from  earth  to  heaven,  and 
here  are  degrees  and  stairs  made  from  the  pinnacle  to  the 
ground;  there  the  Angels  were  ascending  and  descending 
with  us,  as  here  they  are  to  take  charge  over  us,  but  yet 
upon  this  condition,  that  we  will  keep  God's  way  with  them, 
go  up  and  down  by  the  degrees  of  the  ladder,  and  use  those 
means  that  God  has  appointed  for  us,  or  else  they  are  gone. 
"N-ow  here  are  we  'gone  too,  for  we  would  be  kept,  but  we 
would  be  kept  in  our  own  ways,  nay  we  would  be  kept  in  the 
way  to  heaven  too,  but  then  we  would  willingly  have  it 

*  See  note  at  p.  70, 


Popular  errors  in  religion  censured.  79 

somewhat  broader  than  it  is,  that  we  and  our  sins  might  go 
along  together.  God's  way  is  somewhat  tedious  and  trouble- 
some with  us,  and  since  it  is  but  one  leap  from  the  pinnacle 
to  the  ground,  we  had  rather  venture  for  that  than  be  put  to 
go  about  by  so  many  degrees  and  stairs  >  and  if  any  man 
tells  us  that  this  is  a  preposterous  way  and  a  wrong  course, 
and  labours  to  turn  us  out  of  it  into  a  right,  we  are  ready  to 
draw  upon  him,  and  threaten  fire  and  sword;  for  we  will 
have  our  own  path,  and  we  will  not  be  kept  out  of  it. 

It  is  an  old  way  I  confess,  as  old  as  Adam  in  Paradise,  but 
a  great  while  it  lay  hid,  and  at  last  a  little  new  divinity  found 
it  out  again,  and  (by  the  devil's  device)  laid  it  open  for  men's 
easier  passage.  St.  Paul  tells  us  that  of  old  there  were  many  i  Cor.  12. 
degrees  in  Christianity,  preaching,  hearing,  believing,  invo- 
cating,  all  in  order,  and  so  foreknowing,  predestinating,  Rom.  8. 
calling,  justifying,  sanctifying,  and  at  last  glorifying,  all  in 
order  too.  Now  our  new  masters  would  teach  us  a  shorter 
cut  and  make  but  one  degree  in  all  Christianity,  as  if  there 
were  but  one  step  from  the  ground  to  the  pinnacle.  They 
teach  a  man  to  take  his  raise  ^  from  predestination,  and  to  give  '  race 
a  jump  into  glorification  without  auy  more  ado;  no  matter 
for  mortification,  or  justification,  or  sanctification;  they  be 
no  degrees  with  them;  they  must  not  be  put  to  go  up  and 
down  the  stairs  like  other  men,  for  they  have  a  by-way  of 
solitary  faith  by  themselves,  that  has  but  one  stride  in  it, 
and  you  are  presently  in  heaven,  or  where  you  would  be. 
And  as  the  devil  brought  Scripture  here  for  his  way,  so  do 
they  for  theirs ;  for  they  have  the  Scriptures  at  will,  they  say 
they  have  it  from  St. Paul,  that  he  who  is  once  predestinated 
is  sure  enough  for  ever ;  let  him  go  and  throw  himself  which 
■way  he  will,  he  cannot  fall,  or  if  he  does,  the  stones  shall 
never  hurt  him ;  if  he  be  the  son  of  God  once,  the  Angels 
must  have  absolute  charge  to  keep  him,  for  God's  children 
are  such  darlings,  and  He  doth  so  dote  upon  them,  that 
though  they  commit  never  so  many  downfal  mortal  sins,  yet 
they  shall  be  in  grace  and  favour,  in  the  state  of  grace  still ; 
He  will  not  sufl'er  them  in  any  wise  to  take  the  least  hurt 
that  may  be.  And  now  let  all  the  world  judge  whether  this 
new,  be  not  the  devil's  old  divinity. 

They  tell  us  of  a  ladder  of  faith  that  has  but  one  step  in 


80  Man's  extremity  is  God's  opportunity. 

SEEM,  it,  and  they  say  it  is  St. Paul's,  but  an  they  remember,  there 
'  —  is  a  ladder  of  practice  too,  that  has  a  great  many  more  in  it, 
and  we  say  it  is  St.  Peter's,  beginning  where  St.  Paul's  left, 
join  to  your  faith  virtue,  and  to  your  virtue  knowledge,  and  to 
your  knowledge  temperance,  and  to  temperance  patience,  and 
to  patience  piety,  and  to  piety  brotherly  love,  &c.  There  is 
a  way  for  you  now,  from  the  ground  to  the  pinnacle,  and 
from  earth  to  heaven,  the  way  that  the  Angels  will  keep  us 
in ;  and  if  we  keep  not  in  this  way,  we  must  keep  ourselves, 
and  God  knows  that  will  be  but  a  sorry  keeping ;  for  the 
Angels  have  no  charge  over  us,  save  only  to  keep  us  in  all 
His  ways.     And  be  this  much  said  for  the  third  point. 

IV.  Now  the  perverting  of  all  (which  is  the  fourth  and  last 
thing)  and  the  turning  of  the  sense  of  David  another  way,  is 
plain  already  and  evident  by  that  which  hath  been  said  be- 
fore; we  will  say  a  little  more  on  it  yet.  In  his  first  tempta- 
tion, he  would  have  had  stones  turned  into  bread,  but  he  him- 
self here  turns  bread  into  stones,  the  bread  of  life,  which  is 
the  word  of  God,  to  be  our  bane  and  utter  undoing. 

For  it  is  not   therefore  said.  He  shall  give  His  Angels 

charge  over  us,  that  in  confidence  of  their  protection  we 

should  grate  upon  God's  providence,  and  put  both  Him  and 

His  Angels  to  base  offices,  to  take  us  up  as  oft  as  we  list  to 

fall  down.     The  devil  would  make  us  believe,  by  his  sense, 

that  if  we  be  the  sons  of  God,  run  into  what  needless  danger 

we  will,  He  will  never  forsake  us :  the  sense  of  the  Psalm 

only  is,  that  using  the  means  which  He  has  appointed,  we 

shall  run  into  no  such  danger  but  He  will  deliver  us  from 

it ;  from  such  dangers  as  cannot  be  prevented  by  man's  care 

and  industry,  the  Angels  shall  protect  us,  but  otherwise  not. 

And  therefore  when  Daniel  is  bound  hand  and  foot  and 

Dan.  6. 22.  thrown  into  the  lions'  den,  a  danger  that  he  was  not  guilty 

of,  then  indeed  it  is  a  time  for  an  Angel  to  take  charge  over 

him,  and  to  see  that  no  hurt  should  betide  him.     When 

Gen.  21.     Hagar  and  Ishmael  are  ready  to  die  for  drink,  then  the 

^^'  Angel's  time  is  come  to  help  them.    So  when  there  is  no  way 

Ex.  14. 21.  to  pass,  then  will  God  divide  the  Red  seaj    and  when  no 

bread  is  to  be  had  for  love  nor  money,  then  they  shall  have 

Ps.  78. 25.  Angels'  food  from  heaven.     And  so  if  there  had  been  no 

ladder  nor  no  stairs  down  the  pinnacle,  then  we  confess  it 


Ordinary  means  to  be  employed.  81 

had  been  a  fit  time  to  have  been  carried  down  upon  Angels' 
wings. 

But  this  is  at  a  dead  lift^  as  we  say,  and  when  there  is  no '  an  ex- 
other  means,  nor  help  left  but  this;  for  otherwise  let  the  ^®°"  ^^ 
stairs  and  the  ordinary  way  be  used,  a  God's  name,  what 
should  we  do  to  cast  ourselves  away  upon  God's  extraor- 
dinary providence  ?   We  read  in  the  twentieth  chapter  of 
Numbers,  that  in  a  place  where  no  water  was  to  be  had, 
there  God  would  bring  it  out  of  a  rock;  but  in  the  twenty-  ver. 8. 
first  chapter,  that  where  there  was  water,  there  every  one 
was  to  go  to  his  digging,  the  princes  of  the  people  and  all.  ver.  18, 
And  in  the  Gospel,  when  the  multitudes  were  readv  to  perish  Mat.  14. 

•  15  •  15  ii2. 

for  hunger,  and  in  a  place  where  no  meat  was  to  be  had,  that  ' 
then  it  was  a  time  for  Christ  to  work  a  miracle;  but  after- 
wards, when  there  was  a  town  nigh,  that  he  took  the  ordi- 
nary way,  and  sent  thither  to  buy  bread;  that  we  may  see  Joh. 4. 8. 
when  God  appoints  a  means,  we  must  use  it;  and  when  there 
is  no  means  left,  and  our  own  endeavours  will  not  help  us, 
Deus  providebit  de  monte,  His  providence  and  His  Angels 
shall  be  over  us. 

Now  this  is  other  manner  of  divinity  fetched  out  of  this 
Psalm  than  the  devil  would  have  fetched  out  of  it;  for  by  a 
trick  of  concealment,  he  would  have  all  this  passed  over,  and 
the  words  taken  as  he  delivers  them ;  as  if  we  were  to  look 
for  a  miraculous  providence  to  keep  us,  go  we  which  way  we 
would.  A  rule  to  make  us  take  heed  of  quoting  or  believing 
the  bare  words  of  Scripture,  unless  we  have  the  true  sense  of 
it  withal. 

And  be  this  much  said  also  for  the  fourth  point ;  we  pro- 
pounded so  many  at  first,  and  this  was  the  last. 

There  are  other  things  in  the  text  too,  that  would  have 
somewhat  said  to  them ;  as,  what  is  meant  by  the  Angels' 
hands,  and  what  by  Christ's  foot,  and  what  by  the  stones, 
and  whether  every  man  hath  his  Angel-keeper  or  no,  to  look 
to  him  and  protect  him.  But  these  things  belong  not  so 
properly  to  this  place  as  to  David's  Psalms,  where  the  Pro- 
phet's whole  intent  is  to  tell  us  what  safety  and  sure  protec- 
tion is  provided  for  him  that  lives  a  godly  life ;  but  here  the 
devil's  intent  is  to  tell  us,  or  to  make  us  believe  at  least, 
what  protection  and  safety  is  provided  for  him  that  lives  an 


82  Application  of  the  doctrine. 

SEEM,  ungodly  life;  and  he  regards  not  the  circumstance  so  much 

'■ in  particular,  as  the  whole  scope  of  the  Psalm  in  general,  to 

pervert  that;  and  therefore  we  are  to  keep  us  to  this,  and 
not  to  deal  with  them  here  in  this  place. 

So  we  have  seen  at  large  the  cost  which  the  devil  bestowed 
here  upon  this  temptation  of  our  Saviour.  And  what  is  this 
to  us  now  ?  for  he  shall  never  have  us  up  to  a  pinnacle,  by 
the  grace  of  God  we  will  keep  ourselves  upon  the  ground, 
and  never  venture  so  high  for  a  downfal.  Literally  we  will 
do  so ;  but  spiritually,  there  we  are  on  the  top  with  him 
every  day;  and  as  he  tempted  Christ,  so  he  talks  with  us  out 
of  a  Psalm  of  mercy  still,  making  us  believe  (for  if  he  did 
Lu.23.31.  this  to  a  green  tree,  what  will  he  not  do  to  a  dry?)  that  if 
we  be  exalted  in  our  minds,  and  have  a  will  to  leap  into  a 
sin,  we  need  make  no  more  ado  about  it,  for  God  is  merciful, 
and  all  will  be  well  enough  in  the  end ;  that  to  take  God's 
troublesome  way  is  too  long  and  tedious ;  that  a  jump,  or  a 
cast  over  all  is  a  nearer  and  a  pleasanter  way  by  half;  and  if 
we  fear  any  hurt,  why  God  is  our  loving  Father,  and  He 
hath  given  His  Angels  charge  over  us,  that  if  it  be  a  sin 
we  fall  into,  they  will  take  us  out  again  time  enough. 

I  say  no  more,  than  what  you  see  every  day  done  your- 
selves, when  men  of  all  sorts  are  persuaded  to  follow  the 
devil  up  one  step  of  sin,  and  then  another  step,  and  yet 
another,  and  still  more  till  insensibly  they  come  at  the  top ; 
and  when  they  are  there  they  must  not  go  down  the  stairs 
again,  according  to  God's  appointment,  fair  and  softly,  with 
fear  and  trembling,  to  work  out  their  salvation  as  St.  Paul 
speaks;  but  walk  on  still,  in  the  high  ways  of  wickedness, 
and,  in  hope  of  God's  long-suffering,  defer  all  till  their 
dying  hour  comes,  and  then,  that  it  shall  be  enough  to  com- 
mend their  souls  to  the  Angels  and  throw  themselves  upon 
God's  mercy,  and  all  will  be  well.  So  says  the  devil ;  Do  so, 
tarry  there  still,  and  never  repent  you  for  the  matter;  when 
you  begin  to  fall,  ye  shall  but  whistle  for  an  Angel  and  he 
will  come  at  first,  and  carry  you  fair  and  softly  upon  his 
wings ;  or  else  he  will  bring  a  fiery  chariot  with  him,  and 
2  Kings  2.  Carry  you  up  to  heaven  in  a  whirlwind,  as  he  did  Elias  ; 
'     ■  and  he  will  carry  you  up  with  a  Psalm  too,  ye  shall  have 

music  as  ye  go,  all  the  way  up  ye  shall  have  a  Psalm  of 


God  mingles  justice  with  mercy.  83 

mercy  sung,  and  what  charge  God  hath  given  His  Angels 
over  you. 

Now  if  ever  the  devil  came  in  this  likeness,  he  comes  so 
here,  like  an  hypocritical  pure  devil,  to  tell  us  of  the  abund- 
ance of  mercy,  for  no  other  end  but  to  plunge  us  into  the 
depth  of  misery.     For  to  conclude  all,  (and  it  is  a  strange 
thing  I  shall  conclude  withal,)  the  Psalms  of  mercy  are  deadly 
Psalms,  not  so  in  themselves,  but  made  so  by  the  devil's 
gloss ;    and  therefore  there  is  no  meddling  with  them,  as 
precious  as  they  be  otherwise,  when  we  have  no  other  inter- 
preter by  but  him  and  his  disciples.     True  it  is  that  God*s 
mercy  is  overall  His  works,  and  that  His  mercy  endureth  Pa.  145. 9. 
for  ever;    and  that  He  will  deal  with  us  according  to  the  ^^' ^'^^  ^' 
multitude  of  His  mercies.     But  these  sayings  must  not  go  Ps.  51.1. 
alone,  there  are  other  sayings  to  be  put  into  our  Psalter,  as 
well  as  they ;  and  therefore  we  say  in  our  prayers,  that  in  all 
our  troubles  and  adversities  we  may  put  our  whole  trust  and 
confidence  in  His  mercy  (not  leaving  there,  but  going  on), 
and  truly  serving  Him  in  holiness  and  pureness  of  living,  to 
the  honour  and  glory  of  His  name.     And  therefore  there  is 
mercy  with  Thee,  saith  the  Prophet ;  for  what  ?   that  Thou  Ps,  130. 4. 
mayest  be  abused  and  grated  on  ?  no,  but  that  Thou  mayest 
be  feared ;  and  blessed  are  they  that  fear  Thee,  and  put  their  Pa.  2. 12. 
trust  in  Thy  mercy.     When  they  go  both  together,  God's 
mercy  and  our  endeavours,  they  go  right ;  for  David's  Psalms 
will  sing  of  mercy  and  judgment,  and  we  must  look  that  not  Pa.  101. 1. 
mercy  alone,  but  mercy  and  truth  must  meet  together  in  us ;  Pa.  85.10. 
that  if  our  Psalm-book  sounds  of  nothing  but  mercy,  and  of 
the  charge  of  Angels,  we  may  know  who  put  it  into  our 
hands.     But  if  the   truth  be   in  us,  we  shall  have  mercy 
shewed  upon  us ;  and  if  we  keep  God's  way  in  righteousness 
and  holiness,  we  shall  have  God's  Angels  to  keep  us,  to  keep 
us  in  all  His  ways,  till  righteousness  and  peace  kiss  each  Pa.  8S.  10. 
other,  which  will  be  in  His  eternal  kingdom  of  peace.     To 
which  kingdom  He  bring  us,  &c. 


g2 


A  SEEMON 


AT   TKB 

CONSECRATION  OF  DR.  FRANCIS  WHITE*, 

BISHOP  OF  CARLISLE, 

CONSECRATED   BY   THE   BISHOF  OF 

DURHAM,  DR.  NEILE"; 
ROCHESTER,  DR.  BUCKERIDGE"; 
ST.  DAVID'S,  DR.  FIELD  d; 
LLANDAEF,  DR.  MURRAY  <= ; 

BEFOSB 

THE  COUNTESS  OF  DENBIGH', 

MR.  ENDYMION  PORTER,  OF  THE  KING'S  BEDCHAMBERf, 

MANY  DEANS  AND  DOCTORS, 

WITH    FIVE    HUNDRED    PERSONS    BESIDE. 


THK  BRRVICE  KXECVTED  BY  JOHN  C08IU,  XRCHDKACON  OF  THE  BAST  ftlBINQ  IK  YORK,  THK 
SERMON  BY  UIX  PREACHED. 

THE  HYMNS  AND  PSALMS  SUNO  SOLSMNLY  BY  THE  CHOICE  OF  THE  KINo'S  QVIRE,  WITH 
TUOSK  OF  ST.  PAUL  AND  WESTMINSTER. 

THE  COMMUNION  SERVICE,  AND  THE  CONSECRATION,  BXBCCTKD  BY  THE   BISHOP  OF  DURHAM. 

THE  EPISTLE  READ  J  ^,^^,g  ^^^^^C  BY  ^"HN  COSIN.        UrcHDEACONS  OF  YORK. 

THE  008PEL  READ   i  I  BY  H.  WICKHAM  ",  i 

THE  OFFERTORY  SOLEMNLY  MABB  BY  MORE  THAN  TWKMTY  FBS80MS,  BISHOPS,  DOCTORS,  AND 
OTHER  DIVINES  OF  NOTE. 

»  [In  January  1628-9,  he  was  translated  Wells  in  1626.     In  1635  he  was  translated 

to   Norwich,  vacant  by  the  promotion  of  to  Hereford,  where  he  died  June  2, 1636  J 

Samuel   Harsnet  to  York,  and   in   Dec.  8  «  [Ur.  William   Murray,    Bishop  of    Fe- 

1631,  he  was  removed  to  El V,  where  he  died  nabore  (?)    in    Ireland,   succeeded  to    this 

in  February,  1638.]              '  bishopric  on  the  removal  of  Ur.  Field  to  the 

b  [Of  Bishop  Neile,  Cosio's  early  friend  see  of  St.  David's.] 

and  patron,  a  more  minute  account  is  given  f  [Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  George  ViUiers  of 

elsewhere.]  Brokesby,  and  sister  to  George  Villiers  Duke 

c  [Dr.  John  Buckridge  elected  Bishop  of  of  Buckingham;    see  CoUins'  Peerage,  ii. 

Rochester,  Dec.  29,  1610,  was  translated  to  252.  ed.  1756,  and  Dugdale's  Baronage,  ii. 

Ely  in  1628.     He  died  May  23,  1631,  and  441.] 

on  the  Slstof  the  same  month  he  was  buried  «  [He  accompanied  Charles  in  his  excur- 

in  the  parish  ehurch  of  Bromley  in  Kent.]  sion  to  Spain.    Heylin's  Life  of  Laud,  p. a?.] 

<«  [Theophilus  Field,  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  i"  [Henry   Wickham,   Archdeacon  of   the 

was  elected  to  the  see  of  St.  David's  on  the  West  Riding  of  York,  was  collated  March 

translation  of  Laud  to  the  see  oi  Bath  and  20,  1623-4.    Le  Neve's  Fasti,  p.  323.] 


SERMON   Vl/ 


DOMINICA  PRIMA  ADTENTUS,   DECEMBKIS  3,  1626,   AT  THE   CONSECRATION 
or  THE  BISHOP  OP   CARLISLE   IN   DURHAM   HOUSE   CUAPEL,   IN   LONDON. 

Out  l)clp  gtantjctf)  in  ti^e  name  of  t^e  lEort. 

St.  John  xx.  21,  22. 

Peace  be  unto  you.    As  My  Father  sent  Me,  even  so 

send  I  you. 
And  when  He  had  spoken  these  words,  He  breathed  on  them 

and  said,  Receive  the  Holy  Ghost; 
Whose  sins  you  do  remit  they  are  remitted,  l^c. 

[ Peace  he  unto  you :  as  My  Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send 

I  you. 

And  when  He  had  said  this,  He  breathed  on  them,  and  said  unto  them, 
Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted  unto  them ;  and  whose- 
soever sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained.'] 

We  are  here  this  day  about  the  consecration  of  a  reverend 
Father,  and  St,  Paul  tells  us  in  one  place  that  we  are  about 
a  good  work  ;  in  another,  that  we  are  about  an  honourable  lTim.3.1. 
work  ;  St.  John  in  this  place,  that  we  are  about  Christ's  own  i  Tim. 5. 
work.  Which  work  is  the  solemn  deriving  of  a  sacred  and 
ghostly  power  upon  the  persons  of  the  holy  Apostles,  for  the 
use  and  benefit  of  Christ's  Church  ever  after.  We  call  it 
the  Power  of  the  Keys,  and  those  keys,  which,  over  and  besides 
them  that  are  committed  to  the  custody  of  a  priest  in  his 

»  [This  is  the  only  sermon  to  which      made  by  the  editor  are  inclosed  within 
Cosin  has  given  notes  and  references  to      brackets.] 
passages  of  Scripture.     The  additions 


88  Importance  of  the  text. 

SEEM,   ordination,  to  bind  a  sinful  and  to  loose  a  penitent  soul,  are 

'- —  here  given  over,  once  for  all,  into  the  hands  of  bishops ;  the 

key  of  order  to  send  as  Christ  sent,  and  the  key  of  jurisdic- 
tion to  govern  as  He  governed.  A  power  that  till  this  time 
Christ  had  kept,  it  seems,  in  His  own  hands,  never  parted 
Mat.  16.  with  it  till  now ;  promised  it  before,  I  will  give  you  the  keys  *", 
but  gave  them  not  till  now  ;  made  His  will  before,  but  sealed 
it  not  till  now  ;  gave  them  many  a  very  fair  legacy,  Jms  adrem, 
as  we  say,  when  He  chose  them  to  be  Apostles  at  first,  but  gave 
them  not  livery  and  seisin  yet,  not  jus  in  re,  He  put  them 
not  into  possession  till  now.  And  now  He  did  it,  we  have 
His  hatid  and  His  seal  for  it;  His  own  words  first,  which  He 
spake  here.  As  My  Father  sent  Me,  so  send  I  you,  (I  trust  we 
will  believe  Him,)  and  then  His  own  Spirit,  in  Quo  signati 
Eph.  4. 30.  estis,  saith  St.  Paul,  to  make  His  word  good  and  to  seal  up 
His  saying,  '  Receive  the  Holy  Ghost.' 

That  if  any  the  new  Pharisees  of  our  time,  the  elders  of 
the  people,  shall  put  the  question  to  us,  as  they  did  to  Christ, 
Mat.21.23.  and  ask  us,  *  By  what  authority  do  ye  these  things  ?  or  who 
gave  you  this  authority?'  we  will  also  ask  them  a  question, 
and  let  them  answer  us.  This  same  sic  and  sicut  here,  can 
they  spell  it?  Can  they  tell  what  as  and  so  means?  if  they 
can,  let  them  answer  themselves. 

For  we  say,  with  the  consent  of  all,  that  this  is  the  original 

privy-warrant  of  ordering  and  of  sending  bishops  into  the 

Church,  that  here  it  is  first  found,  and  here  founded  first  too ; 

that  to  this  very  place  we  reduce  the  whole  practice  of  the 

Church  for  these  fifteen    hundred  years  and  upwards,  the 

practice  of  the  holy  Apostles  themselves,  so  often  mentioned 

in  Scripture,  a  man  would  think,  of  purpose  to  let  us  know 

how  they  understood  this  place ;  that  of  the  Acts,  super  quern 

posuit  vos  episcopos,  '  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  made 

Acts20.28.  you  bishops,'  and  'his  bishopric  let  another  man  take,'  and 

Acts  1.20.  again,  that  of  St.  Paul  to  Timothy,  'Stir  up  the  gift  that  is 

1  Tim.  5.    ^^  thee,  by  the  imposition  of  my  hands,'  and  again,  '  lay 

hands  suddenly  on  no  man,'  that  to  Titus,  '  for  this  cause 

have  I  set  thee,  that  thou  shouldest  ordain  priests ;'  all  to 

this  head.     For  do  but  ask  them  what  text  they  had  for 

''  ['Jus  ad   rem,'  right  to   a  tiling      a  thing  after  possession.  See  Andrewes' 
before  2)ossession  ;   'jus  in  re,'  riglit  iii       Sermons,  vol;  iii.  p.  108.] 


22. 

Tit.  1.  5. 


Ifivision  of  the  subject.  89 

saying  as  they  did,  and  hither  will  they  come.     Our  Saviour's 
sicut  must  be  theirs  too,  this  their  warrant,  and  no  other. 

To  entreat  of  it  then.  The  heads  are  divers.  And  now 
I  am  about  to  divide  the  text,  St.  Paul  puts  a  word  into  my 
mouth,  that  will  help  us  to  order  it  and  to  divide  it  aright. 
He  says  that  he  and  his  fellow  Apostles  had  a  commission  to 
be  ambassadors  for  Christ;  and  under  tlie  notion  we  can  best  2Cor.5.20. 
tell  what  to  make  of  this  text,  for  here  was  their  commission 
and  their  embassage  drawn  up  for  tliem  at  large. 

Ambassadors  are  men  commonly  that  must  have  some 
special  quality  in  them  above  other  people;  their  treaties  are 
ordiuarily  for  concord,  and  therefore  above  all  other  things 
they  should  be  peaceable  men. 

The  quality  and  disposition,  then,  which  Christ  requires 
here  in  ambassadors  to  be  our  first  part,  and  this  out  of  the 
first  words  of  the  text,  'Peace  be  unto  you,'  set  there,  as  it 
seems,  as  a  preparative  to  their  mission,  and  a  condition  re- 
quisite before  they  could  be  sent ;  for  whatsoever  other  am- 
bassadors be,  Christ's  must  be  sure  to  be  peaceable  men. 

(2.)  Our  second  point  to  be  their  mission,  Mitto  vos,  '  I 
send  you.'  For  be  it  that  men  are  never  so  fitly  and  so  ably 
disposed,  yet  unless  they  be  sent,  and  have  letters  of  credence 
with  them,  they  can  be  no  ambassadors;  step  up  of  their 
own  head  and  run  they  may  not,  but  expect  a  mission. 

(3.)  A  mission  these  had,  and  a  commission  too,  that  to 
be  our  third  part;  the  nature  and  authority  of  their  mission, 
which  the  sicut  and  the  sic  here  gives  us,  such  another  as 
Christ  had  from  His  Father,  *  as  My  Father  sent  Me.'  These 
three  in  the  first  verse. 

In  the  next,  (4.)  the  enabling  of  them  to  perform  and 
execute  their  commission ;  in  other  commissions  it  goes  by 
putting  to  the  seal,  in  this  also  by  putting  upon  them  the 
seal  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  this  to  be  our  fourth  point, 
'  Receive  the  Holy  Ghost.' 

(5.)  Which  was  given  here,  as  most  an  end  such  great 
commissions  are,  with  a  ceremony;  the  ceremony  used  was  a 
blast  of  Christ's  breath,  '  He  breathed  upon  them,  and  said, 
Receive ;'  that  to  be  another,  a  fifth  point.  The  last  being  but 
one  part  of  His  great  commission,  a  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  remit  and  retain  sins,  which  in  one  sense  is  communicable 


90  Force  of  the  expression  'Peace  be  unto  you' 

SEEM,  to  PriestSj  but  in  another  is  casus  reservatus,  kept  proper  and 

'- —  peculiar  to  Bishops  only.     These  are  the  parts ;  you  see  they 

depend  all  upon  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  is  the  earnest  and  the 
seal  of  all. 

Now,  because  there  is  no  speaking,  nor  hearing  neither,  of 
Him  without  His  assistance,  no  discoursing  of  His  gift  of  the 
Spirit  without  the  Spirit  itself,  I  shall  therefore  desire  you 
that  we  may  call  upon  God  the  Father,  in  the  name  and 
mediation  of  God  the  Son,  for  the  aid  and  help  of  God  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  that  with  meek  heart,  &c. 

THE    BIDDING    OF    THE    COMMON    PRAYERS    OF    THE    CHURCH. 

Pater  noster  Qui  es  in  coelis,  ^c. 

(I.)  We  begin  as  the  text  begins,  and  as  Christ  began  once 
Lu.  24.  36.  before  this,  with  the  preparative  to  their  mission,  '  Peace  be 
unto  you,'  which  I  know  well  by  many  frigid  and  common  '^ 
expositors  is  taken  for  no  more  than  an  ordinary  salutation 
among  the  Jews ;  by  the  best  and  more  ancient*^  for  a  higher 
and  deep  mystery,  as  being  well  assured  that  Christ  came 
not  here  among  His  Apostles  a-visiting  only,  to  spend  away 
His  time  by  seeing  how  they  did,  and  so  bid  them  good 
morrow;  but  that  His  coming  was  for  greater  matters,  to 
leave  that  peace  first  which  he  had  so  lately  purchased 
betwixt  God  and  man  among  men  themselves,  and  then  to 
leave  that  power  which  God  had  bestowed  upon  Him  for  the 
benefit  of  His  Church  for  ever. 

Before  He  puts  the  Apostles  then,  into  any  other  commis- 
sion. He  puts  them  first  here  into  the  commission  of  peace. 
Before  He  gives  them  the  Spirit  of  peace.  He  will  have  order 
taken  that  they  be  peaceably  given  first,  and  when  they  are 
so  fitted  for  Him  they  shall  receive  Him.  Thus  was  way 
made  for  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  then ;  and  look,  as  His  former 
gift  was,  so  will  His  after-gift  be  too ;  as  He  was  given  here, 
Eph.  4.  3.  so  He  must  and  will  be  given  still;  the  Spirit  of  unity  to 

*  [Erasmus  and  other  commentators  gelia,  p.  1282.] 
who  advocated  this  '  frigid'  interpreta-  ''  [Various    passages    to    this    pur- 

m.  tion,  are  enumerated  and  refuted  in  a  pose    are  collected  from  the    writings 

dissertation  printed  in  1758,  by  C.G.  F.  of  the  Greek  Fathers  by  Suicer  in  his 

Walch,   which  is  quoted  by   Koecher  Thesaur.  i.  1032. J 
in    his    Analecta   in    Quatuor   Evan- 


The  Church  the  home  of  peace.  91 

them  that  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  Author  of 
Peace  to  them  that  are  maintainers  of  the  bond  of  peace. 
For  otherwise  the  ordination  that  some  men  get  among  us, 
it  is  somewhat  inordinate,  and  well  may  they  get  an  impres- 
sion of  the  Spirit,  a  free  grace,  as  we  say,  to  do  others  good ; 
but  spirit  get  they  none  nor  grace  to  do  themselves  any.  It 
is  the  care  and  wisdom  of  our  Church,  therefore,  and  so  it  has 
been  in  all  antiquity,  before  any  man  be  ordained  a  priest,  or 
consecrated  a  bishop,  to  put  this  question  to  him,  *  Will  you 
maintain  quietness  and  peace  among  all  Christian  people*?' 
As  much  to  say  as,  unless  you  promise  this,  you  can  have  no 
Holy  Ghost  here,  see  an  ye  can  get  Him  among  them  that 
are  enemies  to  peace ;  for  with  us,  the  bishop  is  to  give  Him 
upon  this  condition,  or  otherwise  to  suspend  his  office.  That 
they  now  who  cry  us  up  *  No  peace,'  and  '  No  moderation,* 
that  curse  the  peacemakers  and  bless  them  that  keep  the 
rents  of  the  Church  from  being  made  up ',  I  wonder  where 
they  had  their  orders,  or  of  whose  sending  they  were.  For 
Christ  and  His  Church  are  for  peaceably-minded  men ;  His 
Spirit  for  men  of  a  calmer  temper.  For  such  unquiet  messen- 
gers and  such  unpeaceable  people  we  may  sing,  '  Come,  Holy 
Spirit  K,'  long  enough ;  sing  it  and  say  it  too,  as  they  use  to  do 
before  every  sermon '',  and  yet  the  Holy  Spirit  come  down 
ne'er  a  whit  the  faster.  The  reason  is,  they  are  not  reason- 
able men ;  they  are  fomenting  the  factions  on  both  sides,  and 
they  hate  the  very  name  of  peace  on  all  sides ;  whereas  His 
coming  must  ever  be,  as  here  it  was,  to  them  that  are  studious 
of  peace  and  lovers  of  concord.  And  now  who  should  look 
to  this  peace  more  than  they  that  are  consecrated  for  it  ? 
whose  office  it  is  to  mark  and  to  rebuke  them  that  sow  dis- 
sensions among  us,  to  practise  as  the  Church  prays,  and  to  do  Eom.  16. 
their  utmost  endeavours  that  all  Christians  may  agree  in  the  * 
truth  of  God's  holy  Word,  and  live  in  unity  and  godly  love. 
In  so  doing  what  thanks  they  shall  have  here,  as  this  world 
goes  now,  I  cannot  tell ;  but  high  shall  their  reward  be  in 

•  Ordination  Service,  [question  pro-  "^  [This   custom    appears    to    have 

posed  by  the  bishop  in  the  '  Ordering  crept  into  the  Church.     In  a  copy  of 

of  Priests.']  the  Prayer-Book  printed  in  1728,  is  a 

'  [See  Heylin's  History  of  the  Pres-  metrical  version  of  this  Hymn,  which 

byterians,  book  xi.  §  31.  p.  393.]  is  directed  to  be  sung  before  sermon.] 

«  Part  of  the  Ordination  Service. 


92  Necessity  of  a  mission. 

SEEM,  heaven,  and  their  honour  great  among  the  Saints,  that  here 

' —  love  and  labour  for  the  peace  of  Christ's  Church '.     And  so 

I  proceed* 

(II.)  Having  for  our  next  point  an  orderly  proceeding  here, 
that  they  stepped  not  up  of  their  own  heads  and  bishoped 
themselves,  but  had  One  to  put  them  into  office,  were  sent, 
and  had  a  mission ;  for  there  are  that  run,  and  I  sent  them 
Jer.  23.  32.  not,  saith  God  in  Jeremiah  ;  a  sort  ^  of  forward  men  that  are 
crept  into  office,  nobody  knows  how,  and  so  overweening  of 
their  own  worth  that  the  Church  shall  never  need  to  trouble 
herself  for  the  matter,  to  call  them,  or  to  send  them,  for  they 
are  upon  their  journey  long  ago;  they  sent  themselves,  and 
can  preach,  order,  rule  and  govern,  or  do  any  thing  ye  will 
have  them  do,  better  than  all  the  mitred  bishops  with  their 
Letters  Missive '  in  their  hands,  and  better  than  all  the  priests, 
scribes,  and  pharisees  in  the  world  besides.  Was  it  thus  of 
old,  trow?  might  men  run  God's  errands  before  they  had 
their  errand  given  them,  or  could  well  tell  what  to  say  ? 
might  they  shuffle  themselves  into  the  High-Priest's  office,  be 
meddling  with  mysteries  before  they  could  well  tell  how  to 
Ex,  25, 38.  use  the  very  snuffers*  of  the  Temple?  nor  this,  nor  that  ?  Ad 
2 Cor. 2.16.  ^^^  g^jg  idoneus,  then?  and  Mitte  quern  missurus  es,  but  here 
John  1. 6.  ^^s  a  mission  howsoever.  '  There  was  a  man  sent  from  God,' 
saith  St.  John  the  Evangelist  of  St.  John  the  Baptist;  he 
came  not  of  his  own  authority ;  et  ordinaverunt  seipsos  in 
ministerium  sanctum,  is  such  a  solecism  in  divinity,  that  I 
suspect  the  Latin  in  the  vulgar  translation  of  St.  Paul,  as  I 
do  their  honesty  that  gulled  the  too-credulous  Papists  with 
a  tale,  and  falsely  here  accused  us,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
late  Queen's  reign,  that  our  bishops  had  then  no  lawful  suc- 
cession, no  orderly  consecration,  but  laid  one  another's  hands 
upon  their  heads,  and  so  made  themselves  bishops ;  not,  '  I 
send  you/  or  *  The  Holy  Ghost  sends  you,'  but  *  Let  us  rise 
up  from  table  and  send  one  another,'  which  the  Public 
Records  of  those  times™  can  tell  us,  and  this  day's  solemnity 

'  [See  Andrewes'  Sermons,  iii.  1 1'3.]  vacant  See;  Gibson's  Codex,  i.  109.] 

''  [' A  sort,' i.e.  a  company ;   seethe  "  In  the  archbishop's  registry.  [See 

fifth  sense  of  the  word  in  Johnson.]  Courayer's  Defence  ot  English  Ordiiia- 

'  [Letters  Missive  sent  by  the  King  tions,  i.29;  Bramhall's  Works,  p.  1051. 

to  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  a  Cathedral  Burnet's  Hist,    llefonn..  Appendix  i. 

Church  directing  them  to  fill  up  the  363.J 


That  mission  from  Christ  Himself.  ^3 

shall  tell  us  again,  is  as  true  as  if  the  father  of  lies  had  said 
it  and  sent  it  into  the  world ;  or  as  true  as  another  report 
they  have,  in  print  too ",  that  we  bound  their  bishops  and 
priests  to  mangers,  and  fed  thera  with  hay  like  horses.  But 
there  let  thera  stand  and  devise  such  mischievous  fables  of 
a  Church  which  deserves  them  not;  which  ever  held  firm 
(and  we  are  able  to  make  it  good)  in  a  continued  line  of 
succession  from  former  known  bishops,  and  so  from  this 
very  mission  of  the  Apostles. 

I  had  now  done  with  their  sending  if  I  had  once  told  you 
of  Whose  sending  they  were,  and  of  Whom  they  held  their 
authority.  It  was  of  Christ.  He  sent  them,  and  He  had 
power  enough ;  all  power  in  heaven  and  in  earth  was  given  Mat.  28. 
Him.  Of  Him  they  held  it,  and  of  Him  we  hold  it  ever 
since.  The  bishop  imposes  hands,  but  God  gives  the  grace, 
saith  St.  Ambrose  °,  of  Whom  we  depend  immediately  for  the 
power  of  our  orders,  and  are  subordinate  to  no  power  besides. 
I  speak  not  of  the  execution,  which  I  know  bishops  may 
suspend  ;  but  of  the  power  of  order  itself,  which  none  can 
take  away  when  it  is  once  given.  Neither  did  any  bishop 
ever  challenge  more,  acknowledging  themselves  but  ministers 
of  Christ's  power,  unless  it  were  he  that  came,  not  (It  seems)  Mat.  20. 
to  minister,  but  to  monarch  it  over  the  world,  and  he  p 
forsooth,  will  have  us  hold  of  him,  that  unless  he  sends  us, 
all  the  power  that  Christ  and  His  Apostles  had,  will  do  us 
no  good.  Without  his  licence  we  are  neither  bishops  nor 
priests;  and  whereas  other  bishops  are  content  to  be  masters 
of  the  ceremonies  only,  he  must  be  master  of  the  substance 
too.  For  ye  must  know  that  Christ  had  but  all  power  in 
heaven  and  in  earth.  Make  we  a  'but'  of  it?  Yes,  there 
was  a  fellow  who  preached  it  before  the  Council  of  Lateran  i 
for  good  Catholic-Roman  doctrine,  that  the  Pope  had  more ; 
that  he  had  a  power  above  all  power  in  heaven  and  in  earth ; 
and  therefore  he  to  do  with  order,  and  power,  and  jurisdic- 

"  [See  Parsons' Three  Conversions,  buit    dignitatem. —  0pp.    S.   Ambros. 

i.  252.  edit.  1604,]  Append,  ad   torn.  ii.  coi.   363.       This 

°  Anibr.  de  Dign.  Sac.  c.  5.      [Sed  treatise  is  improperly  ascribed  to    St. 

tamen  per  homineuj  dat  Deus ;  homo  Ambrose.] 

imponit  manus,  Deus  largitur  gratiam  ;  »  [See  Ant.  De  Dominis,  Rep.  Eccl. 

sacerdos  imponit  supplicem  dexteram,  II.  v.  §  13,  14,  15.] 

et    Deus    benedicit    potenti    dextera  ;  i   Bin.,  torn.  iv.  p.  654.   [See  Jewell's 

episcopus  initial  ordinem,  et  Deus  tri-  Works,  P.  i.  p.  365.  edit.  1609.] 


94  The  mission  of  the  Apostles. 

SEEM,  tion,  and  Church  too,  what  he  list  himself;  the  main  quarrel 

'■ —  (though  God  knows,  a  very  unjust  quarrel)  betwixt  him  and 

us  at  this  day ;  and  no  peace  must  be  had  unless  we  will  hold 
all  of  him.  But  then  must  we  go  mend  our  text  here;  for 
if  so,  Christ  was  properly  to  have  said,  not,  I  send  you  all, 
but,  I  send  St.  Peter,  and  let  him  send  the  rest^  Enough 
to  let  you  see  the  vanity  of  his  claim  and  the  iniquity  of  his 
quarrel.  Let  the  world  judge  then,  where  the  schism  lies ; 
for  we  have  our  mission  from  Christ  as  well  as  he.  And  so 
from  the  mission  and  the  nature  of  it  I  will  come  to  their 
commission  and  the  nature  of  it;  for  every  one  that  is  sent, 
is  not  sent  with  a  like  commission,  which  is  our  third  point. 
(III.)  The  Apostles  then  were  sent,  as  all  other  bishops 
and  priests  are.  What  commission  have  they  with  them  ? 
For  at  large  they  are  not  sent,  either  to  teach  and  to  gov- 
ern as  they  list  themselves,  but  they  have  a  sicut  and  a  sic 
with  them  to  keep  all  right.  '  As  My  Father  sent  Me,  so 
send  I  you.' 

We  demand  then,  How  was  Christ  sent?  And  He  was 
sent  for  two  ends.  The  first,  to  be  the  Redeemer  of  our 
souls,  and  to  reconcile  God  unto  men,  which  He  did  by  His 

1  Pet.  2. 25.  death ;  the  second,  to  be  the  Bishop  of  our  souls,  and  to 
reconcile  men  unto  God,  which  He  did  by  leaving  us  a 
Gospel,  His  life  and  doctrine,  in  a  Church  behind  Him  ^  In 
the  first  sense  the  Apostles  were  not  sent,  they  were  to  be 
no  redeemers  nor  mediators  neither.  For  it  cost  more  to 
redeem  men's  souls,  and  both  they  and  their  successors  must 

Ps.  49. 8.  let  that  sicut  alone  for  ever.  And  yet  there  is  a  sicut  simili- 
tudinis  in  it  for  all  that,  though  there  be  no  sicut  aqualitatis, 
there  is  some  likeness  in  their  sendings  this  way.  He,  sent 
by  His  Father  to  be  a  Mediator  for  mankind,  and  to  recon- 
cile the  world  by  His  death  and  sacrifice  upon  the  cross. 
They,  sent  by  Him,  to  mediate  and  to  pray  for  the  people,  to 

2Cor.5.l8.  be  ministers  of  the  reconciliation,  as  St.  Paul  speaks,  and  ia 
a  manner,  to  be  sacrificers  too,  representers  at  the  Altar 
here,  and  appliers  of  the  sacrifice  once  made  for  all ;  without 
which  last  act,  the  first  will  do  us  no  good  *. 

"■  [See  Ant.  de  Dominis  de  Repub-  *  [The  difference  between  the  mission 

lica   Eccles.  II.  v.  §  3,  and  the  refer-  of  our  Lord  and  that  of  His  disciples  is 

ences  there  given.]  pointed   out   by    De    Dominis    in    his 

•   [See  De  Dominis,  V.  i.  §  l.seqq.]  Repub.  Eccl.  I.  v.  §  2.] 


The  mission  of  our  Saviour.  95 

But  then  in  the  second  sense  more  properly.  And  here  the 
sicut  runs  many  ways ;  we  will  choose  them  only  which  are 
the  chief,  and  for  which  the  Scripture  is  plain,  Christ  was  of 
purpose  sent. 

(1.)  First  then,  Christ  was  sent  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  Lu.4.  [18.] 
poor ;  and  of  the  same  errand  are  His  Apostles  and  bishops 
sent,  '  Go  ye  and  teach  all  nations/     The  priests'  office  not  Mat.  28. 
80  large,  who  preach  too,  but  yet  under  the  bishop's  licence 
only ;  they  then  to  be  the  great  pastors  of  the  diocese,  and  we 
but  as  servants  and  substitutes  under  them,  to  preach  by 
their  commission  and  not  by  our  own.     For  by  virtue  of  our 
orders  we  are  only  put  to  offer  up  the  prayers  and  sacrifices 
of  the  Church,  to  administer  the  Sacraments,  to  bind  and  to 
loose,  and  not  to  preach  unless  we  be  thereunto  appointed, 
says  the  book.     And  indeed,  so  went  the  old  canons  and  the  [The  Or- 
stories  of  the  ancient  Church.     For  canons  I  name  the  Sixth  Service] 
in  Trullo",  and  the  decree  of*  Damasus  the  pope,  one  whom 
St. Jerome  made  much  esteem  of  >,  that  otherwhiles  presbyters 
were  not  to  preach  at  all,  as  Balsamon  *  there  observes  of 
them  in  Alexandria*.     For  stories  I  name  Sozomeu'',  and 
Nicephorus  •*,  and  St.  Chrysostora  himself  •*,  that  was  much 
troubled  about  it,  and  would  fain  have  given  over  preaching 
(as  in  his  second   Homily  upon   Esay),  when   he  saw  the 

"  [Can.  xix.   ap.    Labb.    Cone.  vi.  ficibusdeberi.tamexsuperioribusquam 

11 36.]  ex  aliis  patruni  constitutis,  aut  sacris 

"  [The  following  passage  from  the  canonibus,  edocti  estis. — EpistDainasi 

decretal    epistle    of    pope    Damasus,  Papae,  ap,  Labb.  Cone.  ii.  879.J 

alluded   to    by    the    author,    so   fully  ''  [St.  Jerome  dedicated  his  book  on 

enumerates  the  functions  peculiar  at  the  Prodigal  Son  to   pope  Damasus ; 

that  time  to  the   Episcopate,  that   it  see  lib.  ii.  cont.  Jovin.  cap.  17.] 

may  be  cited  at  length.    Quod  vero  eis  '  [See     Beveridge's    Pandectae,    i. 

non   liceat  sacerdotes  consecrare,  nee  278.] 

diacoiios  aut  subdiaconos,  nee  virgines,  ■  [On  this  peculiarity  of  the  Churcli 

nee    altare    erigere,    nee    ungere    aut  of  Alexandria  (which  however  appears 

sacrare,    nee    ecclesias    dedicare,    nee  to  have  been  limited  to  the  period  when 

chrisma  conficere,  nee  chrismate  bap-  it  was  disturbed  by  the   preaching  of 

tizatorum  frontes  signare,  nee  publice  Arianism)  see  Bingham,  II.  iii.  §  4. 

quideminmissaquemquampoenitentem  and  XIV.  iv.  §  3.] 

reconciliare,  nee  formatasepistolas  mit-  *»  Sozom.  1.  vii.  c.  19.  [p.  307.  edit, 

tere,  nee  populum  benedicere,  nee  ante  Reading,  1720.  H.Valesius  in  his  note 

episcopum  in  baptisterio  aut  in  SHcrario  upon  this  passage  attempts  to   throw 

introire,  necprsesenteepiscopoinfantem  discredit  upon  the  statements  which  are 

tingere   aut   signare,  nee    pcenitentem  advanced  in  it,  as  far  as  the  bishops  of 

sine   praeceptione    episcopi  sui   recon-  Rome  are  concerned.] 

ciliare,  nee  eopraesente,  nisi  illojubente  '  Niceph.  1.  xii.  c.  34.    [Seethenote 

sacramentum    Corporis    et    Sanguinis  of   H.  Valesius  to   Sozoraen,    vii.   19. 

Christi  conficere,  nee  eo  coram  posito  p.  308.  edit.  Reading.] 

populum  doeere  aut  salutare,  nee  pie-  ^  St.Chtyso>t.  Hoin.  2.  in  Isai.  [vi. 

bem  exhortari ;  quae  omnia  solis  ponti-  1 1 1.  edit.  Bened.] 


96  Objects  of  our  Saviour's  mission. 

SEEM,  bishop  come  into  the  church,  he  being  then  but  a  priest*. 


Good  men  ;  they  thought  priests  had  a  deal  to  do  besides, 
to  say  their  hours,  to  sing  their  service,  to  visit  the  sick,  to 
reconcile  penitents,  and  not  to  preach  so  much,  though  they 
neglected  not  this  neither :  but  then  it  was  when  the  bishop 
set  them  a-work,  when  he  was  otherwise  employed,  and 
could  not  so  often  attend  it;  for  there  must  be  preaching 
howsoever,  I  would  not  be  mistaken,  I  come  not  here  to 
preach  down  preaching ;  but  this  I  wonder  at,  that  preach- 
ing now-a-days  should  be  counted  our  only  office,  as  if  we 
had  nothing  else  to  do,  and  an  office  independent  too,  as  if 
we  were  all  bishops  when  we  preach.  But  let  them  preach, 
they  have  licence  perhaps  to  do  it. 

Then  would  both  bishops  and  they  be  put  in  mind  of 
a  second  sicut  here,  that  we  may  keep  us  to  the  text. 

(2.)  For  secondly,  Christ  was  sent,  as  the  Scripture  many 
times  tells  us,  not  to  preach  His  own  will,  but  His  Father's ; 

Job.  12.  '  As  My  Father  said  unto  Me,  so  I  speak.'  Nor  were  the 
Apostles  sent  to  preach  what  they  would  themselves,  but 

Mat.  28.  whatsoever  Christ  had  commanded  them ;  that  they,  which 
preach  as  voluntary  as  the  organ  plays,  or  the  sudden 
motions  of  a  spirit,  as  their  fancy  leads  them  that  call  it 
speaking  by  the  Spirit  when  never  a  wise  word  is  spoken, 
and  they  which  preach  us  up  new  doctrines,  or  a  new  faith, 
which  was  never  heard  on  since  the  world  began  afore,  may 
go  seek  some  other  commission  to  make  good  what  they  do, 
for  from  Christ  here  have  they  none. 

(3.)  Christ  was  sent  to  preach  a  law,  as  we  read  in  the 

[Ps.  2.  7.]  second  Psalm ;  *  I  will  preach  the  law  whereof  the  Lord  spake 
unto  Me ;'  and  they  that  are  sent  by  Him  are  sent  to  make 
men  observe  a  law  and  to  do  what  He  hath  commanded.  If 
we  love  not  to  hear  of  a  law,  of  a  working  and  a  doing 
religion,  we  must  go  to  some  other  Church,  for  in  Christ's 
Church  men  are  to  preach  us  a  law,  set  us  somewhat  to  do, 
and  hold  us  or  keep  us  in  with  a  law;  that  they  now  which 
preach  us  all  Gospel  and  put  no  law  among  it,  bishops  and 
priests  that  will  tell  the  people  all  is  well  if  they  can  but  say 
their  Catechism  and  hear  sermons,  make  them  believe  that 
there  is  nothing  to  be  done  more  but  to  believe  and  so  be 

*  [See  Biiigb.  ii.  3,  4;  and  xiv.  4,  2.  for  illustrations  of  this  position.] 


Objects  of  our  Saviour's  mission.  97 

saved,  these  men,  they  preach  by  some  other  pattern  sure 
for  Christ,  He  is  sent  not  to  preach  down  the  old  law  so 
much  as  to  preach  up  a  new.  Now  to  make  men  observe 
and  do  what  the  Church  teaches  them  is,  or  should  be,  in 
the  bishop's  hands.  We  suffer  scandal  from  them  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  in  many  things,  in  nothing  more  than  this, 
that  we  are  sent  to  preach  sermons  to  the  people,  as  men 
that  had  some  pretty  commodities  to  sell  them  which,  if  they 
liked,  they  might  buy  and  use ;  if  not,  they  might  let  them 
alone ;  that  we  talk  of  devotion  but  live  like  the  careless ; 
that  we  have  a  service,  but  no  servants  at  it;  that  we  have 
churches,  but  keep  them  not  like  the  houses  of  God ;  that 
we  have  the  Sacraments,  but  few  to  frequent  them  ;  Confes- 
sion, but  few  to  practise  it ;  finally,  that  we  have  all  religious 
duties  (for  they  cannot  deny  it),  but  seldom  observed;  all 
good  laws  and  canons  of  the  Church,  but  few  or  none  kept ; 
the  people  are  made  to  do  nothing;  the  old  discipline  is 
neglected,  and  men  do  what  they  list  ^  It  should  be  other- 
wise, and  our  Church  intends  it  otherwise ;  (enough  to  free 
her  from  slander,  let  them  condemn  them  that  will  not  obey 
her,)  but  enough  to  free  her,  and  to  stir  up  men,  specially 
them  whom  it  concerns,  to  make  others  active,  for  therefore 
are  they  sent,  even  as  Christ  also  was. 

(4.)  And  to  make  this  take  the  better  effect,  we  say,  fourthly, 
that  Christ  was  sent  to  preach  by  His  own  life,  and  to  give 
an  example  to  others,  exemplum  dedi  vobis,  which  is  the  best  joh.13. 15. 
kind  of  preaching,  when  all  is  done ;  that  they  which  stand 
like  idols  and  statues,  to  point  out  the  way  to  others,  and 
yet  stir  not  themselves  to  lead  the  way,  they  are  by  this  very 
mark  known  to  be  none  of  Christ's  ambassadors. 

(5.)  And  now  I  come  to  another  sicut ;  sicut  oves,  saith 
Christ,  '  Behold  I  send  you  as  sheep  among  wolves.'  As  Mat.  10. 
sheep  among  wolves  ?  Now  above  all  other  sicuts,  let  us 
have  none  of  that.  For  will  the  comparison  hold  here  too, 
trow  we  ?  Yes,  Christ  was  sent  so  Himself,  sicut  ovis,  saith 
the  Prophet,  as  a  sheep  to  the  slaughter,  and  sicut  agnus  inter  la.  53.  7. 
lupos,  as  a  lamb  among  the  wolves.  A  lesson  this  which  my 
lord  bishop  of  Rome  hath,  it  seems,  long  ago  forgot,  for  he 
has  turned  the  text  now  quite  another  way  and  made  it 
'  [See  Jewell's  Woiks,  p.  151.  and  his  View  of  a  Seditious  Bull,  p.  13.] 

COSIN.  H 


98  Dignity  of  the  priesthood. 

SEEM,  run  backwards,  sicut  lupus  inter  agnos,  comes  he  like  a  wolf 
■       among  the  sheep  that  is  ready  to  devour  them,  and  like  a  lion 


among  the  lambs  that  is  greedy  of  his  prey.  Christ  came 
not  so,  and  the  Apostles  came  not  so.  I  wonder  of  whose 
sending  he  should  be  that  comes  after  this  manner. 

But  if  the  pope  on  the  one  side  has  forgotten  how  St.  Peter 
was  sent,  there  are  the  common  people  on  the  other  side  that 
will  remember  it  well  enough,  how  he  and  all  the  rest  were 
sent ;  and  they  mean,  it  seems,  to  take  an  order  for  it  that 
their  successors  shall  never  be  sent  otherwise,  never  but  as 
sheep  among  wolves.  Let  us  be  sheep  and  they  will  be  sure 
to  be  wolves,  keen  enough  to  prey  upon  the  Church,  and  to 
prey  upon  churchmen  too,  leave  them  by  their  good  will 
neither  goods  nor  good  name  behind  them.  We  know  the 
world  has  studied  this  text  well,  and  though  they  keep  never 
a  saying  of  Christ's  besides,  yet  will  they  be  sure  to  keep  this; 
since  Christ  has  said  it,  they  will  take  Him  at  His  word ;  we 
shall  be  sheep  still,  and  they  will  be  wolves.     Christ  told  the 

[Mat.  5.  clergy  that  they  were  the  salt  of  the  earth,  and  the  world  has 
taken  Him  ;  because  He  has  said  it,  it  shall  be  made  good  ; 
account  made  of  us  as  of  salt  indeed  ?  a  poor  contemptible 
thing,  salt,  ye  may  buy  enough  of  it  for  a  farthing.  This  is 
their  jest;  but  as  contemptible  as  it  is,  ye  can  savour  nothing 
without  it,  and  this  is  our  answer.  But  what  do  I  pleading 
for  account,  or  for  any  good  words  from  the  world,  whenas 
Christ  here  has  bidden  us  look  for  none  beforehand ;  not  but 
that  we  should  have  them,  but  because  we  are  never  like  to 
have  them.    Men  speak  well  of  their  clergy  ?  No.    There  is  a 

Mat.  5. 11.  saying  of  His  which  spoiled  that  long  ago,  '  They  shall  speak 
all  manner  of  evil  against  you ;'  and  so  they  do.  I  know  no 
saying  in  all  the  Bible  studied  better  than  this.  But  since 
Christ  was  willing  to  bear  it,  we  must  be  content  to  endure 
it  too.  In  the  meanwhile  we  would  desire  all  men  to  re- 
member whose  ambassadors  they  are  that  are  thus  used  ; 
assuring  them  that  any,  the  least  injury  done  to  them,  re- 
flects upon  Christ  their  Lord  and  Master. 

(6.)  Who,  to  make  them  amends  for  this,  hath  not  sent 
them  without  another  sicui,  a  sicut  of  honour  and  dignity, 
whereas  He  sent  them  to  be  the  ambassadors  of  God  and  the 
dispensers  of  His  sacred  mysteries.     This  shall  be  the  last. 


The  three  orders  of  the  Church  Catholic.  99 

In  priests  this  to  consecrate  the  Sacrament  and  to  meddle 
with  the  keys;  but  I  meddle  not  with  them,  as  being  not 
proper  for  the  day.  In  bishops  [opus  diei)  to  send,  ordain, 
and  govern  others,  as  He  sent  and  governed  them.  For  it 
was  the  High-Priest  of  old  and  not  the  presbytery  ;  it  is  the 
bishop  now  and  not  the  vestry-man,  nor  the  priest  neither, 
that  hath  authority  to  put  into  the  priesthood,  or  to  give  any 
orders  at  all.  It  is  the  full  consent  of  reverend  antiquity  to 
distinguish  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  into  ^  three  degrees, 
answerable  to  the  triple  order  under  the  Law,  as  servants  to 
the  same  Trinity,  the  God  both  of  Law  and  Gospel.  There 
are  bishops,  successors  to  the  Apostles,  answerable  to  the 
High-Priest,  presbyters  succeeding  the  seventy  disciples, 
answerable  to  the  priests ;  and  deacons,  instituted  by  the 
Apostles,  answerable  to  the  levites.  I  gather  then,  that 
as  the  putting  into  the  priest's  office  was  penes  Pontificemy  i  Sam.  2. 
in  the  High-Priest's  power  alone,  so  the  consecration  of 
bishops,  the  ordination  of  priests  and  deacons,  and  the 
putting  of  them  into  office  or  place  within  the  Church,  was, 
and  is,  in  the  authority  and  jurisdiction  of  bishops  only, 
who  are  the  height  and  the  princes  of  the  clergy,  as  Optatus'' 
said,  and  said  it  from  Ignatius',  the  oldest  Father  that  is, 
and  St.  John's  own  scholar ''.  If  Fathers  would  do  it,  we 
could  bring  two  juries  of  them;  but  this  place  is  clear,  and 
St.  Paul  is  clear,  what  need  we  any  more  witnesses  ?  Propter 
hanc  causam,  '  for  this  cause,'  saith  St.  Paul  to  Titus,  'have  I  Tit.  l.  5. 
set  thee  in  Crete'  (not  any  body  else)  *  that  thou  shouldest 
ordain  presbyters/  Neither  is  there  any  one  example  to  be 
found  in  all  the  stories  of  the  Church  of  any  holy  orders  that 
were  ever  given  but  by  a  bishop.  I  will  shew  you  all  that 
may  be  found.  There  was  an  old  Arian  heretic,  they  called 
him  Ischyras ',  a  fellow  suborned  by  a  faction  to  accuse 
Athanasius  in  the  great  Council  of  Nice,  and  he  was  ordained 
a  priest  indeed  by  Coluthus  an  imaginary  bishop ;  but  be- 
cause it  was  afterwards  proved  that  the  one  was  no  bishop, 

'  [Bingh.  Orig.  Eccl.  ii.  20.  §  1.]  confusion  between  what  is  recorded  of 

''  [Optat.  p.  15.  edit.  Paris.   1679 ;  Polycarp  and  Ignatius.] 

see  also  Bingh.  Orig.  Eccl.  ii.  2.  §  4.]  '  Athanas.  in  2.  Apolog.  [i.  193.  edit 

'  [Ep.  ad.  Magnes.  §  6 ;  ad  Ephes.  fol.  Par.  1698;  see  also  Bingh.  ii.   3. 

§  2  ;  ad  Trail.  §  13,  &c.]  §  6,  and  Petavius  de  Eccles.  Hierarch. 

''  [There  here  appears  to  be  a  slight  II.  x.  §  10.] 

h2 


100  Presbyterian  ordination  always  rejected. 

SEEM,  the  Council  concluded  that  the  other  was  no  priest,  and  so 

'- —  put  them  both  off  with  contempt  and  scorn.     This  was  one 

There  is  but  another  example  to  be  had,  and  it  is  out  of  the 
second  Council  of  Seville  %  where  the  priest  takes  upon  him 
to  give  orders  like  a  bishop ;  you  shall  see  what  came  of  it. 
The  priest  dies  presently,  or  they  had  met  with  them  ;  and 
his  imaginary  clergy-men  were  by  that  council  turned  back 
again  to  their  lay-brethren  with  shame  enough. 

Yet  starts  me  up  Aerius  **,  and  he  would  have  bishops  and 
priests  to  be  all  one,  held  for  so  holding  as  little  better  than 
mad;  but  ye  should  have  given  him  a  bishopric,  saith  St. 
Austin  %  and  then  the  heretic  would  have  been  quiet.  For- 
sooth bishops  and  priests  p  had  otherwhiles  been  both  one 
name ;  so  had  bishops  and  arlgels  ^  too,  were  they  therefore 
both  one  order  ?  I  may  call  the  bishop  a  priest  when  he  con- 
secrates the  Sacrament,  and  the  priest  a  bishop  when  he  looks 
to  his  charge  ;  but  what  makes  this  to  the  power  of  ordina- 
tion ?  Cum  de  re  constat,  qui  fit  de  nomine  pugna  ?  Let  the 
priests  submit  themselves  then,  saith  St.  Ignatius'",  it  is  none 
of  theirs ;  they  were  not  sent  for  this  purpose. 

And  if  not  they,  much  less  the  consistory,  and  the  verdict 
of  the  vestry,  to  whom  they  say  the  Spirit  is  lately  gone,  and 
departed  from  the  whole  Church  besides.  But  I  will  not 
here  vouchsafe  to  confute  them,  not  to  name  them,  more  than 
Jude  8.  that  they  are  a  tumultuous  faction,  and  despise  dominions, 
and  speak  evil  of  dignities ;  and  that  we  own  them  not. 
To  the  bishops'  power  of  ordaining  then  add  their  power 

1  Cor.  11.    of  setting  Church   matters  in  order  by  virtue  of  St.  Paul's 
34  .... 

ordinabo  cetera ;  their  votes  in  council,  by  virtue  of  that  in 

Acts  15.      the  Acts ;  their  power  to  correct,  deprive,  suspend,  excom- 

&c.]    '       municate,  and  stop  the  mouths  of  offenders,  specially  of  those 

that  speak  perverse  things  and  draw  disciples  after  them,  by 

[Tit.  2.  15,  virtue  of  the  Apostle's  charge  to  Timothy ;    and  then  you 

&c.] 

"  Cone.  Hisp.  2.  [Can.  5.  Relatum  levitici  ordinis,  quern  perverse  adepti 

est  nobis  de  quibusdam  clericis,  quorum  sunt,  amittunt.     See  further,  Bingh.  ii. 

dum  unus  ad  presbyterum,  duo  ad  levi-  3.  §  7.] 

tarum  ininisterium  sacrarentur,  episco-  "  Epiphan.    Haer.    75.    [§    5.    edit, 

pus   oculorum    dolore    detentus    fertur  Pctavii,  fol.  Colon,  p.  909.] 

manum  suam  super  eos  tantum  impo-  °  Aug.  de  Haer.  53.  [Opp.  viii.  14.j 

Suisse,  et  presbyter  quidem  illis  contra  '  [See  Bingh.  ii.  19.  §  2.] 

ecclesiasticutn  ordinem  benedictionem  i  [See  Bingh.  ii.  2.  §  11.] 

dedisse  ....  Hi  gradum  sacerdotii  vel  '  [Epist.  ad  Ephes.  §  4.] 


Value  and  meaning  of  ceremonies.  101 

have  their  full  commission  with  all  the  stents  and  extents 
of  it,  drawn  up  at  large.  And  now  it  wants  nothing  but 
the  seal,  which  we  will  set  to  with  expedition,  and  make 
an  end. 

It  follows  then,  *  When  He  had  spoken  these  words  He 
breathed  on  them  and  said,  Receive  the  Holy  Ghost.' 

(IV.)  Where  we  begin  with  the  ceremony.  For  here  is 
a  Spirit  given,  and  given  by  another  spirit,  Spiriius  Sanctus 
per  spiritum  oris,  the  Holy  Spirit  by  the  spirit  and  breath 
of  His  mouth. 

No  doubt  but  Christ  (an  it  had  pleased  Him)  might  have 
given  them  the  Spirit  without  any  breathing  upon  them 
at  all;  the  substance  without  the  ceremony.  And  had  He 
so  done  He  had  got  some  men's  hearts  by  it  for  ever,  which 
now  He  is  like  to  lose ;  theirs,  that  condemn  all  ceremonies 
in  religion  for  vanity  and  superstition. 

Now  much  pity  it  was  that  these  ceremony-haters  of  our 
days  had  not  then  been  living  and  standing  by,  to  advise  and 
to  put  Christ  in  mind  what  a  foundation  He  would  lay  here 
for  superstition  and  popery,  aud  how  much  better  it  had  been 
to  have  made  no  more  ado  but  to  have  come,  as  they  use  to 
do,  with  the  Spirit  only,  and  so  be  gone.  Yet  thus  it  was 
not;  it  was  as  St. John  here  has  written  it,  and  they  cannot 
all  tell  how  to  help  it ;  Christ  would  have  a  ceremony  as  well 
as  the  Spirit ;  and  the  truth  is,  He  did  seldom  or  neverany 
great  act  without  a  ceremony. 

Christ  would  have  it,  and  have  it  He  would  for  some  good 
purpose  sure.  His  purpose  was  to  have  it  signify  somewhat ; 
to  be  no  idle  ceremony,  but  significant,  as  indeed  all  cere- 
monies must  be%  though  for  this  very  cause  they  are  so  much 
misliked,  because  forsooth,  we  make  them  significant ;  whereas 
if  we  should  not  make  them  so,  they  must  needs  be  (as  they 
would  have  them  to  be)  vain  and  frivolous  indeed.  For 
ceremonies,  take  them  where  ye  will,  let  them  be  destitute 
of  signification  and  instruction,  and  what  are  they  else  but 
the  idle  gestures  of  men,  whose  broken  wits  are  not  masters 
of  what  they  do  ?  Themselves,  have  they  not  a  ceremony  to 
lift  up  the  eye-lid  as  if  they  were  lifting  up  a  pound  weight  ? 
and  they  say  it  is  to  signify  the  heaviness  of  the  heart.  We 
•  [Hooker,  E.  P.,  v.  §  65.    Keble's  edit.  ii.  409.] 


102  Why  Christ  breathed  on  His  Apostles. 

SEEM,  beseech  them  then  that  they  would  let  our  ceremonies  be 

VI 

'■ —  significant  too ;  and  this  for  one,  that  Christ  breathed  upon 

His  Apostles. 

Significant?  of  what?  The  Fathers  shall  tell  us^  St. 
Austin,  that  it  signified  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to 
be  from  Christ  Himself  the  Son,  as  well  as  from  God  the 
Father.  Athanasius^,  and  St. Cyrils  that  it  signified  Christ 
to  be  Him,  Who  at  the  first  breathed  life  into  man,  the 
Creator,  and  the  Re-creator,  both  one  God;  St,  Ambrose y,  that 
as  without  the  breath  there  is  no  natural  life,  so  without  the 
Spirit  there  is  no  heavenly;  St.  Basils  that  the  Spirit  begins 
with  a  breath  and  comes  on  with  a  wind,  not  boisterous  at 
first  and  feeble  afterwards,  as  we  use  to  be.  All  these  are 
good.  I  will  be  bold  to  add  a  fifth,  as  in  those  cases  we  may, 
that  Christ  breathed  upon  them  here  to  shew  that  otherwise 
they  might  have  been  soon  out  of  breath  to  have  run  this 
embassage  over  the  world ;  that  it  was  not  in  the  power  of 

[2  Cor.  10.  man,  nor  in  the  breath  of  his  nostrils  (God  knows)  to  throw 
down  those  strong  holds  of  the  devil  which  they  were  now 
to  encounter,  but  that  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  and  the 
breath  of  His  mouth  it  must  be  done. 

Here  are  significations  enough ;  but  we  shall  stick  to 
St.  Austin's,  as  the  Church  most  an  end  hath  used  to  do 
about  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost  from  the  Person  of 
God  the  Son ;  which  is  the  reason  that  never  after  this  was 
there  any  more  breathing  to  be  used  by  the  Church,  for  that 
neither  Spirit  nor  spiritual  authority  proceeds  from  men  as 
lords  and  authors  of  it,  but  was  changed  to  imposita  or  ad- 
mota  manus,  to  the  lifting  up  or  laying  on  of  their  hands, 

'  [Flatus   ergo    ille    corporeus   sub-  ^  [M»j5e!s  ohv  x<>'P'feTa)  t^v  iraXaMV 

stantia    Spiritus    Sancti  non   fuit,   sed  hjrh  ttjs  Ka.ivy\s  SiaO-fiKr^s'  fj,r]Sels  Xe-yerio 

demonstratio  per  coiigruam  significa-  St*  &Wo  rh  irvevfia  eKe7,  koI  &\\o  &5e. 

tionem  non  tantum  a  Patre  sed  etiam  a  — S.  Cyrill.  Hieros.  p.  244.  edit.  Par. 

Filio  procedere  Spirituin  Sanctum. — S.  1720.] 

August,  de  Trin.  ii.  ap.  Thorn.  Aquin.  y  [Ergo  mundus  non  habebat  vitam 

Cat.  Aur.  ad  Job.  20.  22.     Insufflando  aeternam,  quia  non  acceperat  Spiritum, 

significavit  Spiritum  Sanctum  non  Pa-  ubi  autem  Spiritus,  ibi  vita  seterna. — 

tris  solius  esse  Spiritum,  sed  et  Suum.  S.  Ambros.  de  Spiritu  Sancto,  cap.  2. 

—Tract,  in    S.  Job.    III.  ii.  589.  ed.  §  27.  0pp.  ii.  639,  edit.  Benedict.] 

Benedict.]  ^  [Avrh  (irj'eiiyua)  5e  ^crTiv  del,  irr]yi} 

"  [.  .  .  Koi   Tov   irifeinaros    Se   St5o-  Sv  t^s  oi'Si'ou  f«^s ; . . .  irpo(riT&>  8e  ^o'ux'iF' 

fiivov  eisTifJMi,\a.^fTeya.pTrveviitx&yi.ov,  rp  Karaardaei.    ^iffvxof  Se  ai/Trjs  iffrw, 

f\eyeu  6  Swr^jp,  6  Qehs  fifiiv  4crTiv,  ....  fii]  fi6voi'  rh  wfpiKelfifvov  crufia,  Kal  d 

^oci)Troiovfi4vei)v  5e  tjh&p  iv  r^  ■/rviv/xari,  rod  (TcofiaTOS  KAvScaf,  dWoL  Koi  irav  rh 

^Tfi/avThs  dXpicnhs  iv  fjixiv \eyeTai. — S.  irepje'xoJ'. — S.Basil. adv.  Eunom.Opp. i. 

Atbanas.  i.  667,  668.  edit.  Paris,  1698.]  320,  321.  edit.  Bened.J 


Nature  of  the  gift  communicated.  103 

who  are  but  God's  delegates  and  assigns  to  give  men  pos- 
session of  His  graces. 

(V.)  Enough  of  the  ceremony,  I  come  now  to  the  sub- 
stance, the  Holy  Ghost  that  was  here  given  and  received; 
whereof,  because  I  said  much  myself  here  the  last  year,  I  will 
tell  you  now  what  another  most  an  end  has  said  of  them,  to 
better  purpose  than  any  else  can  8ay%  and  so  make  an  end. 

And  one  note  we  shall  have  from  the  word  '  Received,'  that 
it  was  not  a  spirit,  spiritus  transiens,  but  remanens  et  implens,  [Andrewes 
afterwards;  not  a  hot  breath  of  furious  zeal  that  blew  upon  lii. p.  135°  * 
their  faces,  and  presently  went  off  again,  nor  a  cold  breath  of 
frozen  religion  that  blew  through  them,  as  I  know  not  how 
it  does  through  a  good  many  of  us;  but  a  breath  and  a  Spirit 
that  went  into  them,  and  tarried  with  them,  wrought  upon 
their  very  hearts  and  converted  them,  a  Spirit  which  they 
received . 

Now  you  will  understand  of  yourselves  that  when  we  speak 
of  receiving  the  Spirit,  It  is  not ''  (as  the  complainers  of  our 
Form  to  the  Parliament  would  have  it)  the  essence  or  the 
person  of  the  Holy  Ghost  that  is  meant ;  heaven  t^nd  earth 
cannot  receive  That,  and  no  power  can  give  It :  but  there  is 
meant  by  it  certain  impressions  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  gifts  and 
graces  which  the  Spirit  of  God  doth  bestow,  and  whereby 
he  that  receiveth  the  office  is  warranted  for  ever  (as  Leo 
speaks •=)  to  have  the  Spirit  with  him  for  his  aid  and  sup- 
port in  what  thing  soever  he  shall  faithfully  undertake  to 
discharge  its  duties. 

In  such  sense,  then,  is  the  Holy  Ghost  received  in  our 
ordinations.  In  that  of  priesthood  for  their  office,  and  in  this 
of  bishops  for  theirs  too ;  not  that  both  their  orders  are  one, 
but  that  both  proceed  from  one  Spirit ;  now  there  are 
divers  degrees  of  gifts,  saith  St.  Paul,  and  but  one  Spirit,  icor.12.4. 

■  [Reference  is  here  made  to  certain  quoniam  qui  mihi  oneris  est  auctor, 

passages   in    the    Sermons   of   Bishop  ipse  fiet  administrationis  adjutor;    et 

Andrewes,  which   are  indicated  above  ne  sub  magnitudine  gratiaB  succumbat 

in  the  margin.]  infirmus,  dabit  virtutem,  qui  contulit 

''  [See  Hooker's  E.  P.,  v.  77.  §  5.  dignitatem.— Bibl.  Patr.,  torn.  v.  Ft.  ii. 

Keble's  edit.,  ii.  585,  and  the  passages  p.  791.  edit.  1618.     This   passage  ap- 

there  quoted  in  the  notes.]  pears    to    have  been    borrowed    from 

<=  S.Leo  Serm.  1.  in  Annunc.[Serm.  Hooker's   E.   P.,  v.  77.  §   8.   Keble's 

1.  in  Anniv.  die  Assumpt.     Unde  etsi  edit.  ii.  589,  where   it  is  quoted,  and 

necessarium  est  trepidare  de  merito,  re-  whence  several  of  the  remarks  in  the 

ligiosum  est  tamea  gaudere  de  dono:  text  have  been  derived.] 


104  All  spirits  not  the  Holy  Spirit. 

SERM.  But  this  or  that,  the  Holy  Ghost  is  then  given  them,  partly 
to  direct  and  strengthen  them  in  their  ways,  and  partly 
to  assume  unto  Itself,  for  the  more  assurance  and  authority, 
those  actions  which  belong  to  their  place  and  calling.  And 
such  is  the  Power  of  the  Keys. 

I  haste  to  an  end.  From  the  words  I  gather  two  things; 
that  they  received  a  Spirit;  that  they  received  a  Holy  Spirit. 
[Andrewes  For  first,  men  may  receive  a  running  humour  instead  of  a  true 
iii.p.i33.]  ftnd  constant  spirit.  I  speak  now  of  grace  making  free,  which 
the  Apostles,  being  fitly  disposed,  received  here,  as  well  as 
free  grace ;  and  in  them  it  was  right,  a  true  spirit,  in  others 
it  may  be  an  humour  only.  I  wish  it  were  not  that  humours 
were  not  sometimes  mistaken  for  the  Spirit,  even  in  clergy- 
men themselves;  a  fiery  humour  for  the  Spirit  of  zeal;  a 
windy  humour  for  the  Spirit  of  purity ;  a  running,  busy,  hu- 
mour for  the  Spirit  of  diligence ;  and  a  thousand  disorderly 
humours  besides  for  the  Spirit  of  freedom  and  godly  courage, 
as  they  call  it. 

Again,  as  by  that  excellent  prelate  it  has  been  observed, 

man  may  receive  the  Spirit,  and  yet  not  the  Holy  Spirit;  for 

as  there  are  many  humours,  so  are  there  many  spirits  too :  a 

private  spirit,  that  does  all  by  immediate  revelation;  a  worldly 

spirit,  that  does  all  by  human  policy ;  a  spirit  of  giddiness, 

that  reels  to  and  fro  like  a  weathercock,  blown  every  year 

to  a  new  religion ;  a  spirit  of  error  that  will  believe  lies,  and 

a  spirit  of  envy  that  will  endure  no  peace.      There  is  also 

a  spirit  of  slumber  that  passes  away  the  time  without  any 

sense  of  God  at  all.     And  all  these  are  no  Holy  Spirits; 

they  that  follow  them,  follow  their  own  ghost  instead  of 

the  Holy  Ghost,  Which  was  here  received,  and  no  other. 

[Andrewes      Now  I  observe,  it  is  last  of  all  observed  that  wherever  this 

iii.  p.  205,  Spirit  is  named,  there  comes  in  a  Sanctus  with  It;  It  is  always 

^^^•^       '  called  the  Holy  Spirit  *     Why  this  title  ?  why  not  the  Spirit 

of  power,  or  the  Spirit  of  government  as  well,  specially  for 

Apostles  and  bishops?    Not  but  that  He  is  the  Spirit  of 

them  too,  but  for  that  He  delights  more  in  this  than  in  any 

Gen.  14.     other  attribute  whatsoever.     High  and  Mighty,  Glorious  and 

18  •  49. 24.  o  o      ./ ' 

Ex.  15. 6.    Powerful  God,  be  His  appellations  too,  but  Holy,  Holy,  Holy, 
Ps.  29. 4.    jg  ^j^g  anthem,  the  title,  that  the  Cherubim  and  Seraphim 

•*  [See  St.  Athanas.  0pp.  i.  653.] 


Tke  attribute  'Holy  *  why  applied  to  the  Spirit.        105 

continually  do  cry,  that  the  quire  of  heaven  make  choice  of. 

Indeed  the   only  title,  when   all  is   done,  which  leaves  «s 

a  lesson  (but  that  this  unholy  age  is  loath  to  be  taught  it), 

if  God  and  His  Spirit  so  esteem  of  it,  that  we  should  do  so 

likewise,  delight  to  have  our  actions  holy,  our  words  holy, 

our  bodies  holy,  all  our  lives  holy;   we  cannot  please  God 

better  than  with  holiness,  and  without  holiness  we  cannot  Heb.i2.l4. 

please  Him  at  all.     If  God  be  pleased  to  make  such  high 

account  of  this  title,  then  we,  wherever  we  find  it,  to  do 

the  like,  that  holy  persons,  holy  places,  holy  times,  and  all 

things  sacred  and  holy,  may  be  had  in  regard  of  us ;  and 

more  especially  this  holy  place,  wherein   now  we  are,  this 

holy  feast  which  now  we  celebrate.  His  holy  "Word,  which  [Advent 

now  we  hear,  and  His  holy  Sacrament  which  we  are  now 

about  to  receive.      Times  and  places  are  out  of  my  way, 

but  for  persons,  the  person  of  a  bishop  or  a  priest,  tell  me, 

to  which  of  the  angels  said  He  at  any  time,  '  Receive  the  Joh.  20. 

.  22  23 

Holy  Ghost?*    or,  'Whose  sins  thou  dost  remit,  they  are     ' 
remitted?'  But  manum  de  tabula;  it  is  a  new  and  a  long 
theme  that,  another  hour "  must  end  it. 

My  Lord,  you  see  you  have  an  honourable  and  an  holy 
calling,  an  embassage  that  Christ  sends  you  on,  even  as  His 
Father  sent  Him.  And  now  is  the  commission  to  be  sealed, 
first  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  then  with  the  Holy  Sacrament, 
which  is  the  reason  that  you  kneel  here  alone  till  that  be 
past.  I  will  not  take  upon  me  to  be  your  instructor,  but 
here  is  your  pattern,  peace  with  men  and  holiness  with  God. 
Of  old  it  was  written  upon  the  bishop's  mitre.  Now,  (as 
David  said  to  Solomon,)  I  know  you  are  wise,  do  then  ac-  [i  Kings  2, 
cording  to  your  wisdom ;  that  when  you  have  performed 
your  embassy  with  honour  here,  you  may  reap  the  fruits  of 
it  in  everlasting  glory  hereafter.  To  which  He  bring  both 
you  and  us  Who  hath  purchased  the  same  for  us. 

*  [An  allusion   to    the    customary      iv.   §   21 ;    and  the  conclusion  of  the 
length  of  a  sermon;  see  Bingh.  XIV.      eighth  sermon  in  this  volume,] 


SEIIMON    VII. 


AT  BBANCEPATH,   FIFTH   SUNDAY   AFTER  TRINITY,   JUNE   27,    1630. 

^tijutorium  nostrum  in  nomine  ©omini. 
Psalm  cxxii.  6,  7^ 

(A  Psalm  occurring  in  the  ordinary  service  of  the  day.) 

Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem,  they  shall  prosper  that  love 

thee. 
Peace   be  within   thy   walls,  and  plenteousness   within   thy 

palaces. 

SEEM.       Which  is  king  David's  devotion  and  piety,  towards  the 

'■ —  Church  and  commonwealth  of  God.     A  piety  that  originally, 

I  confess,  and  according  to  the  letter,  respects  the  Church  of 
the  Jews,  and  the  house  of  God  among  them,  but  in  a  far 
better  and  a  higher  sense,  chiefly,  no  doubt,  and  according 
to  the  substance,  respects  also  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  the 
house  of  God  among  us. 

For  howsoever  this  Psalm  was  first  penned  for  the  ark  ^  of 
the  old  covenant,  when  with  a  religious  solemnity  it  was 
brought  up  to  Jerusalem,  yet  it  was  not  king  David's  mean- 
ing, nor  the  meaning  of  the  Holy  Ghost  neither,  but  it  might 
be  extended  and  applied  to  more  covenants  than  it.  His 
meaning  was  not  to  shut  up  this  peace  within  the  walls  of 
the  city  only,  nor  to  engross  this  plenteousness  unto  her 
palaces  alone,  but  to  have  both  the  one  and  the  other  as 

'  A   fragment    of   a   sermon   upon  gratiarum  actionem,  quod  area  tandem 

the   same   text   may   be   seen    in   the  stabilem  sedem  reperisset,  et  successio 

Appendix.  in  regno  ad  certam  familiam  alligata 

^  Exitat    eos   [Judseos]    David   ad  esset. — Pol.  Synops.  ad  loc. 


'  JertJLsakm '  implies  both  Church  and  state.  107 

diffusive  through  his  own  kingdom ;  so,  extensive  (and  that 
chiefly)  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

And  what  should  hinder  the  Psalm,  but  as  it  went  from 
the  doors  of  the  tabernacle,  for  which  it  was  first  made,  to 
the  gates  of  the  temple,  where  afterwards  it  became  one  of 
their  gradual  *  songs,  sung  upon  the  third  step  of  their  as- 
cent unto  it,  so  it  might  pass  also  as  well  quite  through  the 
temple  itself,  and  reach  unto  the  Church  of  Christ,  whereof 
the  Jews'  Church  was  but  a  shadow.  Surely  the  Psalm  was 
for  both ;  both  for  Jew  and  Christian ;  and  so  the  text  for 
both,  both  for  their  Church  and  ours;  and  but  for  them 
originally  only,  to  last  but  for  a  while  neither ;  but  for  us 
intentionally  and  truly,  to  last  for  all  ages  after  that,  from 
the  first  coming  of  Christ  in  grace,  to  His  second  coming 
again  in  judgment.  It  might  be  our  care  also  to  pray  for 
the  peace  and  plenty  of  Christ's  Church  among  us,  as  it  was 
their  care  of  old  to  pray  for  the  peace  and  plenteousness  of 
Jerusalem  among  them ;  and  that  they,  above  all  others, 
might  prosper,  that  love,  and  seek  to  prosper  it. 

I  name  the  peace  and  plenty  of  the  Church  only,  I  should 
name  the  peace  and  plenty  of  the  state  also ;  that  we  are  to 
seek,  and  to  love,  and  to  pray  for  the  quiet  prosperity  of  them 
both,  both  of  the  Church  and  kingdom  wherein  we  live ;  for 
Jerusalem  here  comprehends  them  both,  and  was  the  seat  of 
them  both,  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  at  the  first  verse,  and 
of  the  house  of  David  at  the  fifth. 

So  have  we  the  sum  of  all,  that  for  God's  house  and  the 
king's^  that  is,  for  the  Church  and  state,  wherein  we  live,  our 
chief  endeavours  be,  even  with  prayers  and  love  and  all  that 
is  ours,  to  procure  peace  and  plenty,  and  prosperity  to  them 
both.  *  O  pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem,  let  them  prosper 
that  love  it.' 

The  text  delivers  itself  in  the  terms  of  one  that  is  advising 
and  wishing  for  us  somewhat  that  is  most  behoveful  for  us,  if 
his  advice  might  be  taken ;  but  inasmuch  as  we  see  wishing 
and  advice  to  prevail  so  seldom,  and  all  manner  of  counsel, 
in  matters  of  religion  especially,  to  be  so  little  set  by,  we 
must  find  more  in  it  than  so  j  not  wishing  only,  and  matter 

*=  The  meaning  of  this  expression  is  Lorinus  Comment,  in  Ps.  cxix.  (cxx.) 
discussed  at  considerable  length  by      iiL  548.  edit.  1619. 


108  Division  of  the  text. 

SEEM,  of  advice  alone,  but  command  also,  and  matter  of  precept 
VII. 


withal.  And  that  we  find  in  the  dignity  of  His  person,  that 
was  author  to  us  of  this  advice.  It  is  votum  Davidis,  it  is 
votum  Spiritus  Sancti ;  it  is  the  advice  of  king  David,  and 
there  is  much  in  that,  but  it  is  the  wish  of  the  Holy  Ghost  too, 
and  therein  is  more ;  ever  in  His  optative,  there  is  an  impera- 
tive ;  in  His  wish,  there  never  fails  to  be  a  command,  never,  if 
he  has  any  wit  that  hears  it.  So  that  these  words,  rightly 
understood,  *  O  pray  for/  or,  '  Would  to  God  ye  would  pray 
for*  'the  peace  of  Jerusalem,'  are  both  an  advice,  and  an  in- 
junction withal,  of  the  nature  of  an  edict ;  we  fall  into  the 
peril  of  contempt,  and  disobedience,  and  irreligion,  if  we  do 
it  not,  if  we  do  not  what  we  are  here  advised  unto. 

And  that  is  not  one  single  duty  neither;  they  are  many, 
and  they  shall  be  so  many  parts  of  my  text. 

(1.)  That  first,  our  care  must  be  for  Jerusalem,  the  seat  of 
God's  house  and  the  king's. 

(2.)  That  this  care  must  be  shewn  by  our  prayers  for  it. 

(3.)  That  these  prayers  must  beg  the  blessing  of  peace 
upon  it. 

(4.)  And  not  peace  alone,  but  peace  and  plenty  too,  peace 
and  prosperity  withal. 

(5.)  That  there  may  be  walls  about  it  for  this  peace,  and 
palaces  within  it  for  this  prosperity. 

(6.)  But  lastly,  that  this  peace  and  this  prosperity  may  be 
the  reward  only  of  them  that  love  it ;  and  for  them  that  love 
it  not,  but  malign,  and  spite,  and  hurt  it  all  they  can,  that 
they  may  go  seek  some  other,  for  here  we  find  no  reward 
for  them. 

And  these  will  fall  out  to  be  the  heads  of  our  present  dis- 
course, of  which  that  we  may  speak  to  the  honour  of  Almighty 
God,  the  peace  of  our  souls,  and  the  prosperity  of  His  Church, 
I  shall,  &c. 

THE    BIDDING    OF    THE    COMMON    PRAYERS. 

Pater  Noster  Qui  es  in  coelis. 

(1.)  We  begin  with  Jerusalem,  the  subject  upon  which  we 
are  to  work,  and  the  body  for  which  the  prophet  would  have 
us  thus  careful.      That   body  consisteth  of  two  parts,  and 


Good  churchmen  are  good  subjects.  109 

these  two  parts  be  the  Church  of  God  and  the  state  of  the 
kingdom,  expressed  here  in  this  Psalm  by  the  house  of  the 
Lord,  in  the  first  verse,  and  tlie  house  of  king  David  in  the 
fifth.  So  that  Jerusalem  stands  not  here  for  the  city  and 
the  state  alone,  nor  for  the  temple  and  the  Church  alone, 
but  for  both  together ;  and  our  care,  our  love,  to  be  sliewed 
unto  them  both ;  that  when  any  man  is  busy  for  the  state 
and  the  commonwealth  of  the  kingdom,  we  set  not  the 
Church  aside,  and  forget  not  the  commonwealth  of  it ;  and 
when  zealous  for  the  Church,  the  state  and  the  peace  of  it, 
that  we  forget  not  the  state  and  the  peace  of  the  kingdom 
neither,  but,  as  we  are  members  of  both,  so  to  be  careful  for 
the  good  aud  prosperity  of  both.  Either  of  them  will  not 
serve  the  turn,  for  both  together  will  make  up  but  one  Jeru- 
salem, both  God's  house,  and  the  king's,  David's. 

And  a  happy  conjunction  it  is,  when  God's  house  and  the 
king's  are  met  together  in  Jerusalem,  in  Jerusalem  or  in  any 
city,  in  any  state  besides ;  that  where  the  kingdom  is  ready 
to  serve  God,  and  to  love  the  prosperity  of  His  Church,  God 
also  may  be  ready  to  preserve  them  and  to  love  the  pros- 
perity of  the  commonwealth,  et  propter  domum  Domini,  so  the 
Psalm  here  endeth,  even  for  the  Church's  sake,  may  seek 
to  do  them  good.  This  where  they  meet ;  but  where  they 
meet  not,  where  either  serves  the  turn,  and  under  a  pre- 
tended care  of  the  one,  the  other  comes  clean  to  be  despised 
and  set  at  nought,  I  know  not  what  else  to  say  of  it,  but 
unhappy  is  that  Jerusalem,  unhappy  are  the  people  that  be 
in  such  a  case. 

Yet  in  all  ages  there  have  been  some,  and  are  too  many  in 
this,  who  are  well  content  to  be  for  the  prosperity  of  the  state, 
for  they  know  well  their  livelihoods  and  means  must  depend 
upon  it;  but,  then  let  the  Church  sink  or  swim,  since  they 
can  live  without  it,  they  care  little  for  it ;  prosper  themselves 
and  their  own  houses,  they  can  never  have  enough  of  it,  but 
(hear  ye !)  prosper  no  church,  no  house  of  religion ;  they 
have  too  much  of  it  already.  This  is  one  kind,  all  for  the 
temporal  state,  for  Jerusalem  the  kingdom.  We  will  deal 
justly  with  you.  They  have  their  opposites,  another  kind, 
peradventure  as  ill  as  themselves,  that  are  all  for  the  spiritual 
state,  for  Jerusalem  the  Church,  that  cry  up  domus  Domini 


110  Duties  not  to  be  separated. 

SEEM,  so  fast,  as  if  domus  Davidis  were  not  worth  the  looking  after ; 

VII  . 
'■ —  that  so  their  state  be  well,  no  matter  how  the  kingdom  fares, 


but  kingdom,  power,  and  glory,  and  all,  must  be  all  swallowed 
up  by  them  ;  that  think  there  can  be  no  love  shewn  to  set  up 
the  house  of  God,  unless  there  be  some  stratagem  invented 
to  pull  down  the  house  of  David  ;  so  hard  a  matter  is  it  to 
Ps.  122. 3.  keep  Jerusalem  as  a  city  that  is  at  unity  within  itself,  or  for 
factious  minded  men  to  hold  a  mean.  But  I  shall  tell  you 
the  truth ;  in  the  one  of  these  there  is  but  a  false  religion, 
that  are  all  for  Jerusalem  the  Church  ;  in  the  other  there  is 
no  religion  at  all,  that  are  all  for  Jerusalem  the  state. 

Yet  such  there  are,  and  an  evil  use  it  is  that  has  possessed 
the  world.  Commonly  we  cannot  affect  one  part,  but  we 
must  despise  the  other;  we  cannot  raise  the  price  of  one 
virtue,  but  we  must  cry  down  all  the  rest.  Ye  may  see  it  in 
many  other  cases  besides  this ;  when  some  men  would  exalt 
the  pulpit,  they  cannot  do  it  without  debasing  the  desk; 
when  they  would  canonize  their  preachers,  they  cannot  do  it 
without  disgracing  their  readers ;  unless  prayers  and  common 
service  may  be  clean  brought  out  of  credit  when  inward  wor- 
ship is  cried  up,  all  outward  reverence  must  be  laid  down ; 
we  cannot  give  God  our  souls  but  we  must  keep  our  bodies 
to  ourselves  ;  and  if  He  has  the  heart,  some  of  us  will  have 
the  hat,  say  what  ye  will.  So  we  cannot  possibly  bring  in 
alms  and  works  of  mercy  but  offerings  and  works  of  devo- 
tion must  be  quite  thrown  away  for  relics ;  and  but  by  the 
sale  of  Christ's  ointment  we  know  no  way  to  provide  either 
for  ourselves  or  others. 

Sensible  enough  are  we  in  other  matters,  in  this  we  are  all 
too  dull ;  of  two  duties  that  are  set  forth,  we  commonly  re- 
gard but  one,  and  that  one  we  make  a  means  also  to  depress 
and  hold  down  the  other,  as  if  both  could  not  stand  together. 
It  is  the  case  in  hand,  as  if  the  care  of  Jerusalem  the  city, 
and  the  good  of  the  commonweath  were  a  supersedeas  ^  to 
any  man  from  the  care  of  Jerusalem  the  temple,  and  the  good 
of  God's  Church.  But  king  David's  care  here  was  for  both. 
And  Christ's  precept  is  for  both,  and  there  is  a  due  regard  to 

'  Supersedeas,'  a  writ  commanding      which  ought  otherwise  to  proceed. — 
the  suspension  of  some  ordinary  pro-      Jacob's  Law  Diet, 
ceedings  at  law,  on  good  cause  shewn, 


Action  to  be  joined  with  prayer.  Ill 

be  had  of  both,  that  what  God  hath  joined  together,  we 
presume  not  to  part  asunder ;  and  what  care  the  prophet 
here  would  have  extended  to  both,  we  engross  not  to  one 
alone,  for  both  we  may  do,  and  both  we  must.  To  be  careful 
for  God's  house  and  the  Church,  is  to  be  a  good  Christian  ; 
to  be  careful  for  the  king's  house  and  the  state,  is  to  be 
a  good  subject;  and  both  these  are  in  God's  eyes  most 
acceptable.  Nay  it  will  ever  be  found  true  likewise,  the 
better  Christian  the  better  subject,  the  more  we  love  God's 
house,  the  more  will  we  love  the  king's  also.  Enough  for 
Jerusalem. 

(2.)  The  next  is  Rogate,  that  how  well  we  love  this  body,  we 
would  shew  it  first  by  praying  for  it.  In  which  word  I  in- 
clude, and  the  original  will  do  as  much,  a  care  to  endeavour  See  Poii. 
and  seek  out  what  good  for  it  we  may,  to  study  and  procure  ^^°^^' 
what  peace  for  it  we  can,  as  well  as  sit  still  and  wish  it  well 
with  good  prayers  for  the  kingdom  first,  to  come  hither  and 
cry  Da  pacem  in  diebus  nostris,  Domine, '  Give  it  peace  in  our 
time,  O  Lord,'  and  then  to  run  out  into  the  streets,  and  when 
we  hear  of  any  stirs  abroad,  to  throw  up  our  caps  at  it,  and 
think  the  world  will  be  all  ours.  This  may  well  be  Rogare 
pacem;  but  we  never  meant  it,  I  am  sure  it  is  not  gucerite  et 
persequemini  pacem,  as  the  Holy  Ghost  meant  it.  Nothing 
80.  Then  for  the  Church  ;  to  wish  it  well,  ay,  ay,  '  For  the 
whole  estate  of  Christ's  Church  militant  here  on  earth,  and 
especially  for  the  Church  wherein  we  live,'  we  can  all  say  the 
prayer  by  heart  to  wish  it  well,  I  say  to  pray  for  the  peace, 
unity,  and  concord,  and  prosperity  of  it,  and  when  we  have 
done  that,  to  go  hence  and  do  it  all  the  evil  we  may,  and  to 
seek  both  the  disquiet  and  the  poverty,  both  the  defrauding 
and  the  ruin  of  it,  this  is  so  far  from  Rogate  pacem,  that  it 
cries  defiance  both  to  the  Church  and  to  the  text  itself. 

To  pray  for  it  then,  it  is  not  only  to  speak  for  it,  to  speak 
a  good  word  for  it,  and  to  do  it  a  worse  mischief,  but  to  speak 
for  it,  and  to  do  for  it  as  well ;  to  speak,  and  seek,  and  sue, 
and  labour  to  procure  it  all  the  good  we  are  able.  But  when 
all  is  done  by  men,  a  hearty  prayer  to  God  is  like  to  procure 
it  most  good,  that  what  they  are  not  willing  to  do,  He  may 
be  pleased  to  do  Himself,  by  inclining  their  hearts  and 
making  them  willing  to  do  it  also.     And  therefore,  when  all 


112  Necessity  of  prayer  for  the  Church. 

SEEM,  the  eood  is  done  to  it  that  may  be  done,  besides  that,  the 

VII 

'- —  prophet  yet  calls  out  for  prayer,  as  the  most  requisite  for 


Church  and  state  of  all  other  duties  that  we  may  do  for  them, 
and  the  most  available  means  to  procure  that  good  unto  them 
from  men,  which  otherwise  they  are  not  so  likely  to  do  of 
themselves. 

Which  St.  Paul  knew  well,  when  above  all  other  things 

conducing  to  a  quiet  and  peaceable  life,  his  exhortation  was 

1  Tim.  2. 1.  to  make  prayers,  and  supplications,  and  intercessions  for  all 

men,  but  specially  for  kings,  and  them  that  bear  rule  over 

us  in  the  state. 

Nor  does  the  Church  less  want  our  prayers  than  the  king- 
dom does,  against  which  the  enmity  of  the  world  is  more 
fierce,  the  devices  of  men  more  subtle,  and  the  gates  of  hell 
set  wider  open  than  against  any  other  state  of  the  world 
Mat.  16.18.  besides.  For  while  Christ  tells  St.  Peter  that  the  gates  of 
hell  shall  not  prevail  against  the  Church,  He  tells  us  withal 
that  these  gates  of  hell,  they  gape  not  wider  for  any  thing 
than  they  do  for  it,  even  for  the  mischief  and  the  ruin  of 
the  Church,  with  that  which  will  surely  follow  it,  even  the 
desolation  of  all  religion  and  piety.  We  see  then  the  neces- 
sity of  prayer  for  Jerusalem;  and  from  it  we  pass  to  the 
third  thing,  which  is  the  necessity  of  her  peace ;  for  there  be 
two  blessings  here,  which  our  prayers  are  to  beg  at  God's 
hands,  and  which  our  endeavours  are  to  procure  at  all  hands, 
both  to  the  Church  and  state  wherein  we  live,  which  is  peace 
and  plenty.     And  peace  is  the  first. 

(3.)  Of  which  we  cannot  say  less,  than  that  it  is  one  of  the 
greatest  blessings  that  either  a  state  or  a  Church  can  enjoy ; 
for  let  them  have  other  blessings  never  so  many,  plenty  and 
prosperity  never  so  much,  yet  if  they  have  them  and  have  no 
peace  with  them,  they  are  but  nominal,  they  are  no  real 
blessings.  The  blessing  of  peace  is  that  only  which  blesseth 
and  crowneth  all  other  blessings  whatsoever. 

It  is  not  so  easily  conceived,  this,  by  them  that  live  in 
peace  already,  but  of  them  that  want  it,  it  is  known  full  well ; 
and  what  would  not  they  give  to  have  it,  that  at  any  time 
have  it  not  ? 

I  would  therefore,  while  we  are  telling  of  this  blessing  of 
peace,  that  you  would  look  not  upon  yourselves  in  a  quiet 


Authority  for  the  prayer  for  peace.  113 

state  at  home,  but  upon  others  in  a  troubled  state  abroad  j 
upon  a  kingdom  in  war  and  blood,  upon  a  Church  in  schism 
and  persecution ;  that  you  would  ask  tliem  which  are  hewn 
asunder  by  the  sword,  and  roasted  to  ashes  with  the  flame, 
that  you  would  conceive  but  their  case  once  to  be  your  own ; 
and  then  tell  me  whether  it  be  not  good  advice  or  no,  by  all 
means  qiuErere  et  rogare  pacem  Jerusalem,  to  seek  for  and  to 
sue,  to  pray  for  and  to  preserve,  the  peace  of  the  state  and 
Church  wherein  we  live. 

I  begin  with  the  state  first,  the  civil  peace;  for  when  we 
do  but  hear  the  word  spoken,  even  that  peace  comes  first 
into  our  minds,  even  Augustus*  peace,  and  the  shutting  up 
of  Janus,  and  the  ceasing  all  noise  of  war. 

Wherein  I  shall  never  fear  to  make  civil  peace  a  part,  as 
of  David's  here,  so  of  Christ's  wish  in  the  Gospel,  nor  of  His 
beati  pacifici  neither ;  to  say  that  happy  they  be  that  have  it.  Mat.  6.  9. 
and  blessed  for  ever  that  are  the  procurers  of  it. 

I  have  told  you  before,  that  Christ  would  be  born  in  this 
time  of  civil  peace  over  the  world ;  you  may  know  by  that 
what  account  He  made  of  it ;  and  by  His  account  what  we 
are  to  do  likewise. 

Therefore  Orbem  pacatum,  as  Tertullian  ®  tells  us,  that  the 
world  might  be  at  peace,  was  ever  a  clause  in  the  prayers  of 
the  primitive  Church,  and  is  still  kept  in  ours. 

But  there  are  some  that  delight  themselves  in  broils  and 
contentions,  and  say  it  is  but  the  coward's  prayer  this,  to  pray 
all  for  peace ;  and  that  it  never  was,  nor  never  will  be,  good 
world  again,  till  this  desire  of  peace  be  laid  down,  and  war 
set  up,  with  all  her  colours  and  ensigns  about  her.  Others 
that  are  bold  to  tell  us  so,  the  prophet  David  gives  you  but  Pa,  122. 6. 
bad  counsel  and  Christ  Himself  no  better  :  the  Apostles  were  ?f^*-  ^:^- 

'  ^  Rom.  12. 

out,  the  old  Christians  wrong,  and  the  Church  of  England  as  I8;  Heb, 
ill  as  they,  when  in  her  public  Litanies  she  appoints  us  to     '    ' 
pray,  *  that  we  may  all  be  delivered  from  battle  and  murder,* 
and  that  we  may  be  hurt  by  no  persecution. 

But  we  are  men  that  from  Christ's  mouth  preach  Beati 

*  The   passage    to    which   allusion  lem,  populum  probum,  orbem  quietum, 

is  made  appears  to  be  this.     Oramus  et  qusecunque  hominis  et  Caesaris  vota 

pro  omnibus  imperatoribus,  vitam  illis  sunt.— Apologet.  cap.  xxx.  p.  27.  edit, 

prolixam,  imperium  securum,  domum  1664. 
tutam,  exercitus  fortes,  senatum  fide- 

COSIN.  T 


114  No  cowardice  to  pray  for  peace. 

SEBM.  pacifici,  and  from  David's  mouth  Rogate  pacem  Jerusalem, 
^   '      which  we  are  to  make  good  against  both  these  opposers,  both 


the  one  and  the  other.     Those  that  think  it  a  cowardly,  first, 
then  those  that  think  it  an  unlawful  prayer. 

And  for  the  former;    we  know  not  what  some  men  call 

1  Sam.  16.  courage  and  valour,  but  sure  we  are  king  David  was  one  that 

2  Sam.  8.  wanted  neither,  famous  in  Israel  for  his  valour,  and  renowned 
i^dhron  through  the  world  for  his  victories,  that  made  single  combat 
28. 3.         'vvith  the  giant,  and  dyed  the  Philistines  in  their  own  blood* 

that  made  war  with  a  witness,  and  proved  most  victorious  in 
it;  yet  he  it  is  here,  as  great  a  sword-man,  as  stout  a  warrior 
as  he  was,  that  comes  in  upon  Rogate  pacem,  and  not  only 
bids  us  pray,  but  prays  also  for  peace  himself.  It  is  the 
conqueror's  prayer.  Again,  with  the  poor,  weak  shepherds, 
that  perhaps  had  no  valour  in  them,  there  was  a  company  of 
Lu.  2. 13.  heavenly  soldiers,  saith  St.  Luke,  and  sure  we  are  that  they 
had  valour  and  courage  in  them  enough ;  yet  their  prayer 
was  for  peace  too,  Gloria  in  excelsis  Deo,  et  paw  in  terris.  It 
is  votum  militare,  it  comes  from  the  mouths  of  soldiers  them- 
selves ;  they  praise  it,  and  pray  for  it,  they  sing  of  it,  and 
wish  it,  where  they  wish  any  good  ;  neither  know  they  what 
better  thing  they  should  wish  to  men,  than  peace  upon  earth. 
So  it  is  the  soldier's  prayer  also,  not  the  gown-man's  alone, 
nor  the  weak  man's  prayer  only,  but  the  wise  and  the  valiant 
and  the  stout  man's  too.  And  being  so,  we  may  be  certain 
it  is  neither  cowardice  to  pray  for  peace,  nor  courage  to  call 
for  broils  and  troubles. 

For  what  greater  happiness  can  there  be,  than  that  it 
should  be  with  us  here  on  earth,  as  it  is  with  the  Angels  in 
heaven  ?  and  with  them  it  is  all  peace,  as  Nazianzen  ^  well 
observes  from  their  prayer  in  the  Gospel,  pugnas  et  dissidia 
nescire  Deum  et  Angelos,  no  broils,  no  brabbles  in  heaven, 
but  all  at  quiet  there,  and  all  wishing  for  peace  here.  So 
that  a  kind  of  heaven  there  is  upon  earth,  when  there  is  peace 
upon  earth  ;  and  justly  are  they  blessed  and  rightly  are  they 
called  the  children  of  God  that  are,  or  shall  be  at  any  time, 
the  procurers  of  it. 

Not  that  it  is  unlawful  to  enter  upon  a  war  neither,  (as 

'  .  . .  Toirccp  8'  ovSev  oSrus  tSiov,  &s  rh  li/jLax^f  t€  koI  a,(XTaaia<TTov. — S.  Greg. 
Naz.  Orat.  xii.  0pp.  i.  198.  edit.  1630. 


Peace  a  blessing  of  God.  115 

the  Anabaptists  hath  sometimes  fondly  taught,)  when  not 
peace  nor  right  can  otherwise  be  performed  j  but  that  in  the 
midst  of  such  troubles,  our  desires  and  ends  be  still  for 
peace;  that  howsoever  the  sword  may  be  put  into  the  hand, 
yet  that  Rogate  pacem,  the  prayer  for  peace,  be  never  put 
out  of  the  heart. 

And  absque  hoc  I  cannot  tell  what  account  men  make  of 
contentions  and  garboils  and  mischief  done  to  the  other. 
For  if  peace  be  God's  blessing,  as  a  chief  of  His  blessings  it 
is,  we  may  reckon  by  that  what  contention,  what  no  peace  is: 
no  less  than  the  curse  of  God,  than  the  rod  of  His  wrath,  as 
Isaiah  termeth  it,  whereby  men  are  scourged  for  their  pride  Is,  10.  5. 
and  for  their  weariness  of  a  peaceable  and  godly  life.  No,  it 
is  but  a  sport,  says  Abner,  for  men  to  go  together  by  the  2:Sam.  2. 
ears ;  but  he  found  it,  as  ye  all  find  it,  even  in  any  breach  of 
the  peace  whatsoever,  a  little  sport  in  the  beginning,  but 
bitterness  in  the  ending,  not  to  fail.  Whereupon  we  bring 
in  king  David's  advice,  both  for  the  state  in  general,  and  for 
every  one  of  you  in  particular ;  '  Pray  for  the  peace ;'  seek 
her  out  wherever  she  is  to  be  found ;  and  if  she  hides  her- 
self, enquire  after  her ;  if  she  flies  from  you,  give  her  not 
over  yet,  but  follow  her  to  the  end,  and  when  you  have 
gotten  her,  you  have  got  a  blessing,  the  greatest  blessing 
that  this  world  can  afi'ord. 

In  regard  whereof,  those  other  men  have  but  little  to  do,  it 
seems,  who  are  finding  fault  with  the  public  prayers  of  the 
Church,  when,  according  to  the  prophet's  rule  here,  we  pray 
for  the  continuance  of  our  peace,  and  desire  to  be  kept  from 
battle  and  persecution.  Nay,  when  we  do  as  king  David 
adviseth,  and  as  St.  Paul  enjoineth,  and  must  be  blamed  for 
that,  I  know  not  what  to  say  to  them.  This  I  will  say,  we 
need  not  wonder  at  their  other  cavils,  when  these  be  so  un- 
christian. 'Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem,'  saith  the 
prophet  here :  pray  that  you  may  live  a  peaceable  and  a  godly 
life  unto  your  king,  saith  St.  Paul.  No;  pray  for  no  peace,  1  Tim. 2. 2. 
pray  not  against  any  ^  battle,  saith  our  Puritan,  directly 
against  the  text ;  and  for  so  saying  let  us  ever  think  what 
spirit  governs  the  sect,  we  shall  be  sure  to  find  that  it  is  none 

«  See  L.  Osiandri  Epit  Hist.  Eccles.  iv.  935.    Tubing.  1608;  Seckend.  Hist. 
Luth.  i.  177.  ''  See  Hooker's  E.  P.,  v.  48. 

i3 


116  Christians  ought  to  pray  for  peace, 

SEEM,  of  the  Spirit  of  peace.     They 'are   all  for  contentions  and 
'- —  brabbles,  both  at  home  and  abroad,   and  He  every  where 


against   tliera,   as   we   also   ought   to   be ;    and  let   this  be 
enough  for  the  first  point. 

I  should  now  come  from  the  civil  peace,  the  peace  of  the 
state,  to  the  religious  peace,  the  peace  of  the  Church ;  and 
the  peace  that  we  are  to  preserve,  one  Christian  with  another; 
but  of  that,  there  is  somewhat  more  to  be  said  than  the  time 
will  now  allow,  which  will  force  us  to  reserve  it  till,  by  God's 
grace,  we  have  another. 

Only  for  a  conclusion  at  this  time,  let  us  ever  and  always 
remember  that  without  peace  abroad  we  shall  never  be  in 
peace  at  home;  and  if  the  state  has  no  quiet,  we  cannot 
choose  but  want  that  blessing  ourselves.  That  therefore, 
being  subjects  under  a  blessed  and  a  gracious  and  a  peace- 
able king,  we  pray  for  the  continuance  of  his  peace,  and 
for  the  prosperity  of  this  Jerusalem,  all  our  life  long ;  that 
Joh.  14.27.  we  join  with  Christ  in  His  wish,  pax  in  ierris,  and  with 
s.      .6.  j)^^(j  ijj  jjjg   p^^  j-^  Jerusalem,  and  with  St.  Paul  in  his, 

Eom.  12.  '  ^  \ 

18.  '  peace  with  all  men  as  far  as  lies  in  us,' — that  God  would 

put  it  into  our  hearts,  and  into  the  hearts  of  all  that  profess 
His  Name,  so  to  affect  His  peace,  that  the  prophet  here 
may  have  his  wish,  that  as  the  old  Christians  said,  Orbis 
pacatus^,  there  may  be  peace  through  the  Christian  world. 
Indeed  such  desires  may  speed  or  miss  thereafter,  as  they 
meet  with  the  sons  of  peace ;  but  howsoever  such  good  de- 
sires, such  holy  prayers,  shall  always  return  into  our  own 
bosoms,  and  the  God  of  peace  will  never  fail  to  reward  them 
with  peace  and  joy  hereafter,  that  love  righteousness  and 
peace  here.  To  which  peace  and  joy  He  bring  us.  That  hath 
prepared  the  same  for  us,  even  Christ  our  Lord  and  Saviour. 

'  TertuU.  Apologet.  cap.  xxx.  p.  27.  edit.  1664. 


SERMON  VIII. 


IN   FESTO  PENTEC0STE8,   DUBHAV,   [mAY   20,]   1632. 

3ltijut0T{um  nostrum  in  i^omtne  IDomi'ni. 

Romans  viii.  14. 
Quicungue  Spiritu  Dei  agunlur,  ii  sunt  filii  Dei. 

For  as  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  Qod,  those  are  the 
sons  of  God. 

[^For  as  many  as  are  led  hy  the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  sons 
of  God.'] 

This  feast  keep  we  holy  to  the  sending  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
And  ever  upon  this  feast  somewhat  we  are  to  speak,  and 
some  text  to  choose  that  belongs  to  His  sending;  so  does 
this.  The  Gospel"  ye  heard  refers  to  the  promise  of  it,  'I 
will  send  Ilim;'  the  Epistle''  to  the  performance  of  it.  And 
He  was  sent  upon  the  persons  of  the  Apostles  to  remain  with 
the  Church  for  ever.  This  text,  to  the  end  of  promise  and 
performance  both,  that  now  God  has  sent  Him,  and  come  He 
is.  He  may  have  that  honour  done  Him  for  which  His  coming 
and  His  sending  was.  That  was  to  be  our  leader  and  our 
guide,  that  we  may  be  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  this  verse, 
that  we  might  walk  not  after  the  conduct  of  the  flesh  but 
after  the  leading  of  the  Spirit,  in  all  the  verses  before.  For  Eom.  8.  i, 
first  and  last  through  this  whole  chapter,  the  Apostle  still  '^^'*<'* 
sends  us  to  the  Spirit,  to  see  whether  we  follow  Him,  or  no ; 
whether  our  walk  lies  after  His  guiding,  or  the  guiding  of 
some  other ;  if  after  His,  then  to  assure  ourselves  that  we 
are  right  and  that  we  keep  this  feast  to  some  purpose,  being 

»   St  John  xiv.  15.      The    Gospel      ture    appointed   for   the    Epistle    for 
for  the  day.  the  day. 

'•  Acts  ii.  1.   The  portion  of  Scrip- 


118  Importance  of  the  feast  of  Pentecost. 

SEEM,  thereby  brought  unto  a  state  of  happiness,  even  the  blessed 
'- —  state  of  the  sons  of  God.     But  if  not,  if  we  choose  to  like 


better  of  some  other  guide  to  be  led  by  than  of  Him  (suppose 
it  be  of  the  world,  or  the  flesh,  or  our  own  self-will,  or  any 
such  leaders  as  they  be,)  then  to  make  account  we  are 
wrong,  and  that  we  keep  this  feast  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  no 
purpose  at  all,  being  by  that  means  brought  to  a  state  of 
misery  and  death,  even  the  miserable  estate  of  the  sons  of 

Eom.8.13.  wrath.  So  it  runs  here.  'If  ye  live  after  the  flesh,  ye  shall 
surely  die ;  but  if  by  the  Spirit  ye  mortify  the  flesh,  ye  shall 
surely  live.  For  as  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
those  are  the  sons  of  God.'  Then  as  many  as  are  not  led  by 
Him,  whose  sons  are  they  ?  Sons  of  God  they  are  none,  and 
part  of  Christ's  inheritance  are  they  none,  they  are  none  of 

'  belong     His  sure ;  they  long  '  to  some  other. 

By  this  now  we  come  to  know  what  the  use  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  is,  aud  what  the  use  of  His  feast ;  that  without  Him, 
all  our  other  feasts  of  the  year  are  nothing,  even  all  the  rest, 
from  the  very  first,  the  Incarnation,  to  the  very  last,  the 
Ascension  of  Christ,  though  all  honourable  in  themselves,  yet 
never  a  one  of  them  beneficial  to  us  without  this  day,  and 
this  duty  of  the  day,  which  we  are  to  keep  holy  to  the  Holy 
Ghost.  For  in  all  these  of  Christ  He  made  but  the  purchase 
only.  He  did  but  pay  for  this  inheritance  and  state  of  sons 

« delivered  which  we  look  for.  He  gave  us  no  possession,  nor  livered  ■^  us 
any  seizin  of  it  Himself,  but  reserved  that  for  His  Spirit, 

2  Cor.  1.     Who  is  the  earnest,  the  investiture  of  our  redemption,  saith 
'  St,  Paul,  that  as  many  as  were  led  by  Him  might  be  brought 

into  full  fruition  of  it,  invested  to  the  state,  and  be  made 
heirs  with  Christ,  even  the  sons  of  the  living  God. 

So  that  upon  the  well  or  ill  keeping,  the  good  or  bad  use 
of  this  feast,  depends  our  interest  or  our  forfeit  of  all  that 

»  should  went  before.  For  that  cause  it  would  ^  be  the  better  heeded ; 
and  if  we  be  willing  to  learn,  this  text  will  teach  us. 

In  it  I  shall  consider  two  general  heads,  (I.)  the  duty  of 
the  day,  out  of  each  aguntur,  that  is,  the  duty  we  owe  to  the 
Holy  Ghost,  to  be  led  by  Him  ;  (II.)  and  then  the  fruit  of  it, 
out  of  Filii  Dei,  that  doing  our  duty,  and  being  so  led,  we 
come  to  have  assurance  made  us  that  we  are  the  sons  of 
God ;  these  two.     And  in  the  first  I  set  forth  these  parts. 


Division  of  the  subject.  119 

(1.)  That  we  are  in  a  way;  Christianity  is  a  way. 

(2.)  That  in  this  way  we  are  to  walk  ;  in  Christianity  there 
must  be  a  going  forward,  it  is  no  idle,  but  a  stirring  and  an 
active  life. 

(3.)  That  in  our  going  we  follow  a  guide ;  not  to  go  at 
a  venture,  or  to  gad  ourselves  alone. 

(4.)  That  this  guide,  the  right  guide,  be  the  Spirit,  and  no 
other  guide. 

(5.)  That  this  Spirit  be  the  right  Spirit,  and  no  other  than 
the  Spirit  of  God,  to  Whom  this  day  and  this  duty  both  be 
dedicate. 

Then  in  the  second,  (but  I  think  we  shall  not  reach  to  it 
to-day,)  I  shall  set  forth, 

(1.)  That  they  who  observe  the  duty  shall  be  sure  of  the 
blessing,  shall  be  the  sons  of  God. 

(2.)  That  they  all. 

And  (3.)  That  they  only ;  for  the  Apostle  says  not  barely, 
such  as  are  led  shall  be  sons,  (so  might  others  be,  as  well  as 
they,)  but  oaoL  dyovrai,  ovtoi  elaiv,  as  many  as  are  led  so, 
they  are, — with  a  double  emphasis,  to  them  only,  as  many, 
and  no  more ;  they,  and  none  but  they.  These  are  the  parts ; 
of  which,  &c. 

THE    BIDDING    OP    THE    COMMON    PRAYERS. 

Pater  Noster. 

(1.)  *  As  many  as  are  led.'  I  said  that  leading  did  suppose 
a  guide,  and  a  guide  supposeth  a  going,  and  going  must 
needs  suppose  a  way  to  go  in.  So  here  we  begin;  where 
I  am  to  tell  you  these  terms  of  '  way,'  and  *  walking,'  and 
'  going  on,'  and  *  leading,*  meet  us  so  thick  all  along  the 
Scripture,  and  are  so  frequent  as  well  in  holy  as  in  human 
writers,  that  plain  it  is  our  life  is  held  a  journey,  not  so  much 
of  via  pedum,  the  way  that  we  pace  with  our  feet,  as  of  via 
morum,  the  way  that  we  trace  with  our  actions.  Our  doings 
are  said  to  be  our  goings,  go  they  which  way  they  will ;  in 
which  sense  the  schoolmen  are  wont  to  call  us  all  Viatores  % 
travelling  and  wayfaring  men,  every  one  of  us,  even  from  our 

'  Hug.  de  S.  Victore,  0pp.  i.  41.  where  in  the  writings  of  the  Fathers 
edit.  1617;   and  very  frequently  else-      and  Schoolmen. 


120  The  necessity  of  going  in  the  right  path, 

SEEM,  first  coming  into  the  world  to  our  last  going  out  of  the  world 
^^^^-  again,  still  going  in  a  way  either  right  or  wrong,  out  or  in,  one 
of  the  two.  It  behoves  us  that  our  way  be  right,  and  that  we 
know  whereunto  it  will  bring  us,  for  those  two  are  all,  and  yet 
no  more  than  we  look  to  in  every  journey  than  to  be  looked  to 
in  this  of  ours,  our  spiritual  wayfare  and  travel  in  this  vale  of 
vanity.  The  end  whither  we  go,  and  the  way  by  which  we 
go;  for  otherwise  we  wander  up  and  down,  we  know  not 
where,  nor  we  know  not  whither,  not  viatores  then,  but  vaga- 
bundi.  But  viatores  we  are.  And  the  end  whither  we  are  to 
go,  and  come  at  last,  lies  open  to  the  view,  is  plain  here 
before  our  eyes  at  the  end  of  the  verse ;  we  are  to  come  to 
the  inheritance  of  the  sons  of  God,  to  be  made  heirs  with 
Christ.  And  happy  we,  if  in  oiir  travels  we  may  once  arrive 
there ;  I  make  no  doubt  but  that  is  agreed  on  at  all  hands, 
if  that  way  thither  were  agreed  on  as  well.  JBut  the  way  is 
various ;  many  a  way  open  and  fair  to  see  to,  yet  but  one 
way  to  be  taken  of  them  all.  There  I  suppose  we  must  agree 
again  upon  the  necessity  of  a  guide ;  one  that  shall  lead  us 
in  the  right  way,  for  fear  of  erring,  and  travelling,  and 
coming  at  last,  not  to  this,  but  to  another,  a  fearful  end. 

(2.)  But  before  we  come  to  our  leader,  this  (I  trow)  will 
be  agreed  on  again,  that  if  this  life  of  ours  be  a  way,  if  we 
be  set  upon  a  journey,  we  are  to  travel  and  go  on  in  it ;  it  is 
a  traveller's  and  no  idle  man's  life.  And  so  let  every  man 
make  account  that  the  estate  of  a  Christian  after  his  baptism 
is  the  estate  of  him  that  hath  undertaken  a  voyage,  which  by 
standing  still  and  doing  nothing,  or  by  going  some  two  steps 
at  first  and  then  sit  down  and  give  over,  will  never  be  per- 
formed ;  it  must  be  by  continual  steps,  and  pressing  forwards, 
Phil  3. 14.  as  St.  Paul  speaks,  to  the  mark  and  end  we  aim  at. 

To  them,  therefore,  that  have  taken  up  their  rest,  say  they 
have  gone  far  enough  already  and  are  weary,  make  no  pro- 
gress in  Christianity — to  them  that  are  no  further  on  their 
way  of  religion  now  than  they  were  seven  years  since,  we 
say,  as  Christ  said  to  them  in  the  market.  Why  stand  ye 
Mat.  20.  6.  Still  ?  '  why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle  ?'  The  day  comes 
and  the  year  returns,  and  ye  are  not  a  step  further ;  other- 
whiles  ye  are  further  back,  too,  than  ye  were  before.  This 
is  no  traveller's  life,  and  therefore  no  life  of  a  Christian,  it 


and  of  having  a  guide  in  that  path.  121 

has  too  much  ease  in  it;  as  [if]  he  said,  Lay  all  upon  Christ's 

shoulders,  and  let  us  sit  down  and  take  no  thought.  He  will 

travel  for  us  all  and  make  us  all  sons  of  God  (that  is,  bring 

us  to  our  journey's  end)  whether  we  set  foot  forwards  in  the 

way  or  no.     I  thought  where  it  was ;  this  is  the  conceit  of 

many  in  the  world,  and  this  is  to  live  after  the  flesh,  the 

very  thing  that  St.  Paul  here  complains  ou  as  being  most 

opposite  to  the  Spirit,  and  most  destructive  of  this  day's 

duty  to  Him.  I  will  give  you  better  counsel ;  they  are  lumps 

of  flesh  that  lie  still  and  idle,  or  somewhat  that  is  worse,  stir 

not  a  whit  themselves,  but  lay  all  the  burden  and  travail 

upon  another.     Come  seek  Me,  all  ye  that  travail,  and  I  will  Mat.  li. 

refresh  you,  says  Christ ;  He  does  not  say,  all  ye,  or  any  of 

ye,  that  travail  not,  that  sit  still  and  do  nothing.     Therefore 

the  counsel  is,  and  so  is  the  lesson,  that  in  our  way  of  religion 

wc  be  still  moving  on,  every  day  getting  some  ground  or 

other  in  it;   and  that  not  slowly  neither,  but  as  they  that 

make  an  expedition,  or  as  they  that  are  set  to  run  in  a  race, 

(so  the  Apostle  styles  it ;)    where  every  one  strives  to  get  Heb.  12. 1. 

the  mastery,   we  should  go  the  swiftest  pace,  that  is,  we  lCor.9.25. 

should  ma  ke  the  best  progress  in  Christianity. 

(3.)  And  now  to  our  leader ;  for  the  way  we  speak  of,  the 
right  way,  is  somewhat  hard  to  find ;  et  dux  nobis  opus  est, 
I  trow ;  we  need  a  guide  to  lead  us  in  it ;  the  best  of  us  all. 

Indeed  if  the  way  was  so  broad  and  easy  as  that  every 
body  might  hit  on  it,  blind  men  and  all,  take  what  course 
they  would,  we  should  never  need  to  trouble  ourselves  with 
a  leader,  we  might  go  where  we  would  and  give  St.  Paul 
a  supersedeas  '^  here  for  his  dyovTai.  But  the  way  is  not  so 
broad,  says  Christ,  and  it  is  but  a  blind  man's  fancy  other-  Mat.  7. 14. 
wise  to  judge  of  it.  The  way  is  strait  aud  narrow  of  itself, 
hard  to  find;  and  besides,  there  be  a  many  by-paths  and 
cross  turnings  by  the  way-side,  that  without  doubt  we  shall 
surely  miss  unless  we  seek  a  leader  to  guide  us. 

From  hence  then  to  take  notice  of  our  own  frail  infirmities, 
of  the  wandering  and  payless  estate  we  are  in  till  God  vouch- 
safes to  send  us  a  leader,  how  ready  we  are  to  stray  and 
wander  and  go,  we  know  not  whither,  unless  we  have  one  to 
go  with  us,  and  one  that,  like  the  word  in  Isaiah,  shall  still 
'  See  note  to  Sermon  VII.  p.  110. 


122         TVe  should  be  careful  to  have  the  right  guides 

SEEM,   call  out  to  us  as  we  go,  and  say,  Hcec  est  via,  'Hear  ye,  this 

'- —  is  the  way,'  and  that  is  none  of  it ;  keep  ye  here  and  turn 

not  from  it :  for  if  ever  we  be  in  the  right  way  to  our  hea- 
venly inheritance  we  are  beholden  to  our  guide  for  it,  it  is 
He  only  That  keeps  us  in  and  tells  us  when  we  are  amiss ; 
Ezek.34. 6.  otherwise,  sicut  oves  erraticce,  as  Ezekiel  compares  us,  we  are 
Jer.  25.  24.  straggling  upon  every  mountain ;  sicut  populi  in  deserto,  we 
have  neither  path  nor  pillar  to  go  by ;  sicut  servi  in  u^gypto, 
Ex.  5. 12.  we  are  scattered  over  all  the  land  of  Egypt,  to  seek  stubble 
and  straw,  the  express  pattern  of  the  world,  wandering  in 
vanity  and  picking  up  straws,  and  seeking  things  that  shall 
not  profit  us;  nay  seeking  them  for  him  too  that  seeks  the 
ruin  of  us  all,  the  devil,  of  all  us,  as  Pharaoh  did  of  the 
Israelites,  till  they  were  so  happy  as  to  get  Moses  to  be 
their  guide,  and  we  the  Spirit,  to  lead  us  from  this  scatter- 
ing and  running  after  their  ruin,  brought  them  into  the 
right  way  and  led  them  through  the  wilderness.  So  the 
Spirit  should  lead  us  through  the  world  to  the  land  of  pro- 
mise, to  the  land  of  our  inheritance. 

That  by  this  time  we  see  the  necessity  of  a  leader.  And 
if  we  see  it,  what  see  we  in  them,  trow  ye,  that  think  they 
want  no  leader?  that  take  it  in  foul  scorn  they  should  not 
be  thought  able  to  lead  themselves  ?  that  can  go  well  enough 
without  a  teacher,  they.  They  need  none  of  your  help ;  nay, 
and  can  take  upon  them  to  lead  others  too ;  all  must  go 
their  way,  and  they  will  bring  them,  but  God  knows  whither. 
Surely  if  this  world  goes  on,  we  shall  have  them  to  undertake 
more,  to  control  their  own  leaders,  to  be  guides  and  leaders 
to  them  too ;  and  then  is  this  verse  inverted,  this  text  turned 
quite  backwards  to  what  it  is  now ;  not  so  many  led  by  the 
Spirit,  but  the  Spirit  led  by  so  many ;  not  so  many  as  are 
the  sons  of  God  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  but  the  Spirit  of 
God,  and  any  one's  spirit  besides,  led  by  so  many ;  as  though 
they  be  not,  yet  think  themselves  to  be  the  dearest  sons  and 
daughters  that  God  has,  and  the  only  wise  men  and  women 
of  the  world. 

Well,  be  their  wisdom  as  it  will,  but  sure  we  are,  as  a  wise 

and  reverend  prelate  hath  told  us,  a  wise  man  he  was  and  a 

Acts  a  28,  godly  that  told  St.  Philip  in  the  Acts,  he  was  not  able  to  lead 

himself,  nor  knew  not  the  way  to  be  made  one  of  the  sons  of 


namely,  God's  Holy  Spirit.  123 

God  without  a  guide,  and  therefore  a  guide  he  got  him,  took 
him  to  his  chariot.  And  whatever  others  do,  the  best  and 
surest  way  will  be  to  follow  the  tract  that  the  wheels  of  his 
chariot  have  made,  to  get  us  a  leader  and  to  account  our 
state  the  state  of  them  that  must  be  led,  and  are  not  able  to 
go  the  way  themselves. 

(4.)  To  be  led,  then.  Yet  not  by  every  leader,  but  by  one 
that  knows,  one  that  is  skilful  in  the  way.  This  is  the  fourth 
point.  And  no  point  need  we  to  be  so  much  advised  of,  as 
of  this ;  that  if  we  assent  to  have  a  leader,  we  take  a  right 
one,  one  that  has  his  eyes  in  his  head,  and  the  way  perfect; 
for  si  ccecus  ccBcum  (as  Christ  said),  being  blind  ourselves,  if  Mat.  16. 
we  be  led  by  them  that  are  blind  too,  which,  God  wot,  is  the 
common  leading  we  have  among  us  now,  the  fruit  is  infoveamf 
at  last  they  both  fall  into  a  ditch,  and  there  they  perish. 

One  that  is  a  skilful  leader  then.     And    (as  he  said  of 
Christ,  so  say  I  here  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ)  who  is  He?  or 
where  shall  we  have  any  so  skilful  to  lead  us  as  lie  is  ?    The 
Spirit  Whom  Christ  erewhiles  at  His  going  up  to  heaven,  said 
He  would  send  and  set  this  day  to  lead  us  into  all  truth ;  the  Acts  i.  8. 
Spirit  That  helpeth  us  and  knoweth  our  infirmities;  that  if  Job.  16.13. 
we  be  at  a  stand  is  able  to  advise  us,  if  we  be  out  is  able  to  ^*'™*  ^-  ^^' 
bring  us  in  again.     No  better  leader  than  He. 

And  I  make  no  doubt  but  all  that  travel  by  this  way  and 
are  willing  to  have  a  guide,  will  so  resolve  that  the  Spirit  is 
the  best  leader.  Of  the  leader  then  we  are  agreed,  so  are  we 
not  of  the  Spirit  yet. 

For  we  have  pretenders,  good  store,  to  the  Spirit;  and 
many  spirits  there  are,  saith  St.  John,  which  be  gone  abroad  l  Job.  4. 1. 
in  the  world,  yet  never  a  true  spirit,  never  a  Spirit  of  God 
among  them  all,  but  one. 

To  try  the  spirits  therefore,  whether  they  be  of  God  or  no,  l  Job.  4.  i, 
as  St.  John  says  there,  whether  the  Spirit  that  leads  us  be 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  or  no,  as  the  Apostle  says  here,  will  be 
all  the  labour ;  and  now  we  shall  have  somewhat  to  do. 

(5.)  Whether  the  Spirit,  first,  the  fifth  point ;  next,  whe- 
ther the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Spirit  to  Whom  we  keep  this  day 
holy,  that  is,  the  Spirit  of  God  ?  The  Spirit ;  for  men  may  be 
led,  and  not  with  the  Spirit,  though  in  the  mean  while  they 
think  they  are.     The  Spirit  of  God,  for  there  may  be  a  mis 


124        The  Holy  Ghost  different  from  human  impulse, 

SEEM,  take  again,  there  may  be  a  spirit  to  lead  us  which  is  none  of 

'■ —  God's,  and  unless  it  be  both  Spiritus,  and  Spiritus  Christi, 

this  text  is  not  satisfied. 

As  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit,  first.  And  here  we  may 
be  full  oft  mistaken,  there  is  some  near  affinity  between  a 
humour  and  a  spirit.  That  humour  has  deceived  a  many, 
and  made  them  think  they  were  led  by  the  Spirit,  when  it 
was  but  their  own  fleshly  will  and  fancy  only  that  hurried 
them  away.  So  have  we  seen  fierce  men  and  hot  in  their 
humour,  taken  themselves  to  be  led  all  the  while  by  the 
spirit  of  zeal ;  subtle  men  and  cunning  in  theirs,  to  be  led 
by  the  spirit  of  knowledge ;  wary  ones  and  wise  in  their  own 
conceit,  by  the  spirit  of  counsel ;  stubborn  men  and  wilful  in 
their  humour,  to  be  led  by  the  spirit  of  fortitude;  froward 
men  and  disorderly  in  their  humour,  disorderly  both  in 
Church  [and  state,]  to  be  led  by  the  spirit  of  freedom ;  and 
a  whole  saint-seeming  tribe  together  in  their  fancy  to  be  led 
by  the  spirit  of  godliness.  The  world  would  think  now  here 
were  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  guide  them;  and  yet  are 
they  but  humours  all  when  all  is  done,  and  humours  of  their 
own  brain  too,  that  flow  thither  either  from  their  gall,  or 
from  their  spleen,  or  from  somewhat  that  is  worse,  take  they 
which  they  will,  and  become  spirits  perhaps  to  mislead  them 
away,  but  spirits  to  lead  them  aright  are  they  none.  They 
talk  of  puppets  in  religion  and  I  know  not  what,  and  truly  it 
may  be  not  without  cause  neither,  where  men  are  so  foolish 
to  use  them,  but  then  sure  I  am  these  are  no  better,  no 
better  than  the  spectra  religionis  ^,  very  shows  and  puppets  of 
religion  indeed ;  if  they  abide  not  the  one,  let  them  not  abide 
the  other  neither,  but  let  the  one  be  abhorred  as  much  as 
the  other,  and  in  the  name  of  God  let  us  not  be  led  aside 
with  either.  These  humours,  like  them  in  the  body,  they 
may  well  quiver  in  the  veins  and  disturb  the  course  of  nature; 
but  there  is  no  life,  no  spirit  of  religion  in  them. 

It  will  much  concern  us,  then,  to  be  sure  of  the  spirit ;  and 
yet  we  have  not  done,  for  it  will  concern  us  more  to  be  sure 
that  when  we  are  led  by  the  spirit,  that  spirit  be  the  Spirit 
of  God ;  the  sixth  point. 

(6.)  And  the  reason  is,  because  the  world  has  set  up  many 

*   See  Andrewes'  Sermons,  vol.  iii.  p.  274, 


and  yet  the  one  is  often  mistaken  for  the  other.        125 

a  spirit  besides ;  and  every  one  will  have  his  own  spirit  to  be 

Him ;  as  Christ  foretold  us,  ye  shall  have  more  Christs  set  up 

to  guide  you;  and  as  His  Apostle  told  the  Corinthians,  ye2Cor.ii.4. 

shall  have  them  come  and  bring  them  with  alium  spiritum 

and  aliud  evangelium,  another  spirit  to  lead  you  and  a  new 

Gospel  to  direct  you  the  way  which  He  never  taught  them. 

Another?   yea,  and  many  another,  saith  St.  John;    many,  i  Job. 4. i. 

saith  St,  John's  Master,  will  come  in  His  name  and  tell  you,  Mat.  24. 6. 

Lo  here  he  is,  and  as  soon  as  ye  have  done  with  him,  Lo  here 

he  is  again,  that  will  lead  you  right.    In  such  a  place,  at  such 

a  meeting,  ye  shall  not  miss  of  Him ;  ye  shall  have  leaders, 

ye  shall  have  spirits  there  enough,  but  scarce  a  good  one 

among  them  all. 

For  there  is  but  one  true  one  to  lead  us  aright,  when  all  is 
done;  but  one  Lord  and  one  Spirit  to  guide  us,  saith. St. Paul,  Eph.  4.  4. 
and  that  one  would  be  only  followed,  if  we  might  discern 
him,  which  he  is.  Now,  I  say,  it  is  the  harder  to  do  this, 
because  as  there  is  a  good  Spirit  of  God,  Qui  ducit,  so  there  is 
a  wicked  spirit  of  the  denl,  qui  seducit;  take  we  heed  of  him. 
I  will  mention  him  no  more.  As  there  is  a  Spirit  of  truth, 
holding  out  the  word  of  God  to  lead  us  in  the  way  of  truth, 
so  there  is  a  spirit  of  error,  and  a  spirit  of  lies,  holding  out  l  Tim.  4.1. 
some  trifling  vanity  or  other  to  mislead  us  as  fast  quite  i  Kings 
another  way,  and  as  fast  as  he  leads,  the  world  is  ready  too  to 
follow  him.  From  whence  it  is  that  some  men  are  led  by  the 
spirit  of  slumber,  and  pass  away  their  time  as  they  do  their 
sleep  in  the  night,  without  any  other  thought  taking  but  that 
they  are  sure  enough  of  the  spirit,  do  they  what  they  will, 
as  the  Valentinians  ^  of  old  in  Epiphanius,  that  held  them- 
selves no  more  polluted  with  filthiness  than  a  wedge  of  gold 
with  a  dunghill,  they  were  pure  metal  still,  pure  spirituals. 
Others  by  the  spirit  of  giddiness,  (as  when  time  was  the  pro- 
phet Isaiah  noted  them,  we  may  note  them  as  well,)  who  run 
up  and  down,  here  and  there,  they  care  not  after  what  spirit, 
and  change  their  leader  as  they  change  their  landlord,  are 

'  . .  .rh  irvevfiariKhi'  6f\ovcrii>  ol  avTol  XP^"'^'')  oi'tw  Se  Kal  avrovs  Xtyovffi,  h&v 

filial  adwdrov  <pQopav  KaraSf^aardai,  «&»'  4y  iroiais  [k&v  dirolais  ?]  v\iKa7s  irpd^tai 

Siroiais  avyKarayefwurai  irpd^ecriy.    ty  Karayivcuvrai,  fxrjSiy  avrovs  irapafi\dir- 

yap  Tpdiroy  xp^f^s  ^y  fiop06p({>  Karare-  T((T6ai,  jUTjSe  airo^dWeiv  rijy  irvevfJiaTi- 

6fls  ovK  uiroPdWeiTi]y  KaWovijv  avTov,  Kijy  viroffTacTLV. — S.  Epiph.  adv.   Hasr. 

aWit  T^v  iSiay  ipvaiy  SiacpvAdrrei,  rov  lib.    i.   baer.   31.  torn.   i.   p.  189,  edit. 

^opfiSpov  fxTjdey  aSiKrjaai  Svyafxtvov  Thy  Paris.  1622. 


126       Tokens  whereby  the  Holy  Spirit  may  be  known, 

SEEM,  either  of  none  at  all,  or  every  third  year  of  a  new  religion. 
^ —  This  is  the  spirit  of  the  world,  and  we  think  it  is  wisely  done 


too,  to  follow  no  spirit,  to  put  no  religion  in  practice  but  what 
may  stand  with  our  own  ends  of  safety  and  ease. 

But  after  all  these  and  above  them  all,  the  most  common 
misleading  spirit  is  our  own  private  spirit,  against  which 
St.  Peter  has  directly  opposed  the  Spirit  of  God,  when  we 
cannot  get  it  out  of  men's  heads  but  that  their  own  ghost 
is  the  Holy  Gliost,  and  leads  them  as  He  would  lead  them  ; 
this  spawn,  this,  of  that  spirit  of  pride,  and  no  other,  where- 
with the  old  Donatists  were  possessed  in  St.  Austin's  time, 
who  gave  it  out  boldly  and  would  not  be  controlled^,  Quod 
nos  volumus,  illud  sanctum  est,  the  way  that  we  go  is  holy  and 
right,  and  no  way  besides.  Therefore,  saith  St.  Austin,  every 
one  of  them  went  a  several  way,  they  had  every  man  a  way 
to  himself,  and  agreed  in  nothing,  but  that  they  all  went 
wrong.  Let  this  be  the  spirit  that  leads  us  and  we  shall 
have  leaders  enough,  so  many  spirits  so  many  leaders  too ; 

1  Cor.  12.  and  then  may  St.  Paul's  Spiritus  idem  et  unions  go  take 
His  leave. 

Jer.  15. 19.      Well  then,  what  shall  we  now  do  to  sever  the  precious 

1  Cor.  12.  from  the  vile?  to  discern  the  leading  Spirit  of  God  from  all 
other  misleading  spirits  whatsoever,  to  set  Hie  est  upon  the 
right  spirit? 

There  be  many  good  signs  in  Scripture  to  know  Him  by; 
I  will  tell  you  them  that  will  not  fail  you,  and  so  send 
you  to  them  away,  for  the  time  would  fail  me  if  I  should 
go  any  further. 

Eom.  8. 13.  One  is  St.  Paul's  sign,  set  there  at  the  door  of  the  text,  the 
verse  before.  It  leads  you  out  to  war  against  the  flesh  and 
to  mortify  the  lusts  of  it ;  your  pride  and  malice,  your  self- 
will  and  envy;  your  fornication,  uncleanness,  wantonness,  and 
the  rest  of  that  rabble.     It  is  surely  the  Spirit  of  God,  the 

Gal.  5. 17.  right  Spirit  that  leads  you,  for  the  Spirit  is  ever  at  enmity 
with  the  flesh,  ever  warring  and  fighting  against  it,  as  other 
spirits  are  not;  for  take  ye  what  spirit  ye  will  besides,  and  ye 
shall  ever  note  them  to  make  much  of  their  flesh  for  all  their 
spirit,  to  put  it  on  fine  clothes,  I'll  warrant  you,  and  to 
pamper  it  well;  otherwhiles  to  dress  it  like  a  pageant  too, 
B  See  Andrewes'  Sermons,  vol.  iii.  p.  275. 


He  is  the  Spirit  of  self-mortification  and  peace.       127 

and  walk  after  it  to  any  vanity,  wheresoever  it  will  lead  them. 
This  spirit  seduces  many ;  but  it  is  a  wicked  one,  it  is  none 
of  this  that  comes  from  God. 

Of  it  the  second  sign  shall  be  Zacharias'  sign,  in  the  Bene- 
dictus.  If  it  be  Christ's  Spirit,  the  Spirit  That  He  sent  to- 
day to  lead  us,  He  will  be  ever  guiding  our  feet  into  the  way  Lu.'i.  79. 
of  peace ;  not  of  questions  and  disputations  about  we  know 
not  what,  as  the  pretenders  to  the  Spirit  do  now ;  not  about 
strifes  and  controversies  in  certain  subtile  points,  whereof  there 
is  no  end,  and  about  which  we  weary  ourselves,  some  of  us,  all 
our  life  long ;  but  in  viam  pacis,  leads  us  only  into  the  way 
wherein  there  is  peace,  even  to  tread  those  paths,  and  to  do 
such  duties  about  which  none  will  dispute,  none  call  into 
question,  but  that  they  are  to  be  done  without  any  contro- 
versy at  all.  This  is  a  sure  sign ;  if  our  delight  be  to  walk 
in  the  ways  of  this  peace,  doing 'those  things  that  are  plain 
and  necessary  to  be  done,  and  whereof  all  parts  agree,  it  is 
the  Spirit  of  God  That  leads  us,  in  that  way  we  follow  Him. 
But,  as  the  use  is,  if  we  love  rather  to  be  treading  mazes  in 
religion,  to  be  still  disputing  with  strife  and  doing  nothing 
with  obedience  and  quiet,  it  is  a  shrewd  sign  we  follow  our 
own  spirit  and  are  not  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 

Look  but  into  this  feast,  see  His  sign,  see  where  He  dwells 
at  the  very  beginning  of  the  Epistle  to-day,  *  And  they  were  Acts  2.  i. 
all  together  with  one  accord  in  His  house,'  not  whetting  their 
wits  to  dispute,  not  filing  their  tongues  to  talk,  but  setting 
their  feet  into  this  way  of  peace ;  and  suddenly,  says  the  text, 
the  Holy  Ghost  came  upon  them.  He  is  a  Spirit  that  loves 
ofiodvfjLaBov,  the  plain  way  of  peace.  Again,  look  but  into 
His  type  before  this,  'And  the  Spirit  of  God  came  down  upon  Mat.  3.  16. 
Him  like  a  dove,'  the  emblem  and  the  sign  of  peace  too. 
They  who  would  have  Him  come  down  like  a  vulture  and 
devour  all  up  that  are  not  of  their  minds,  or  like  the  Roman 
eagle  to  tear  all  Churches  and  kingdoms  in  pieces  that  will 
not  stoop  to  them,  I  wonder  by  what  spirit  they  are  led. 
Surely,  nescitis  cujus  spiritus,  may  be  a  fit  answer  to  them.     Lu.  9.  55. 

A  third  sign  of  Him ;  and  that  is  of  Christ's  own  setting 
np,  a  little  before  He  went  up  to  heaven  Himself  If  He  be 
the  Spirit  of  God,  by  which  we  are  led,  we  may  ever  and 
anon  be  calling  out  to  Him  to  direct  us  in  our  way ;   to 


128     The  Holy  Spirit  makes  men  fruitful  in  good  works. 

SEEM,   counsel  us  as  we  go.     'When  the  Comforter  is  come,'  says 

TT-TTTT  Christ,  'He  will  teach  you  all  things,  what  ye  have  to  do;' 
where  we  have  two  characters  of  Him.  We  will  go  to  Hira 
for  counsel  to  direct  us,  as  well  as  for  comfort  to  relieve  us ; 
we  will  not  let  Him  alone,  as  we  do  the  physician,  till  we 
grow  sick  and  come  near  the  hour  of  our  death,  till  we  begin 
to  faint  by  the  way  and  can  go  no  further ;  but  we  will  make 
a  teacher,  a  counsellor  of  Him  too,  all  our  life  long,  we  will 
call  Him  to  us  and  pray  Him  to  look  on  us  in  every  step  we 
take,  we  will  question  with  Him  in  particular  in  every  action 
we  do,  have  private  conference  with  Hira  about  the  estate  of 
our  souls,  whether  they  be  in  the  way  or  no,  or  whether  they 
be  in  error  and  sin.  And  they  that  do  not  so,  let  them  take  it 
for  a  rule,  Christ  will  never  take  them  to  be  led  by  His  Spirit, 
nor  St.  Paul  here  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

1  Cor.  12.  Let  us  take  another  sign  from  him,  Htsc  omnia  operatur 
Spiritus,  and  with  that  will  we  make  an  end;  for  all  that 
should  be  said  of  this  Spirit,  and  the  rules  to  know  Him  by, 
cannot  be  said  at  once;  and  I  doubt  not  you  will  hear  of  Him 
again  to-morrow  and  the  next  day,  the  mysteries  being  so 
great,  and  the  lessons  so  many,  that  concern  Him,  that  the 
Church  has  for  that  cause  purposely  appointed  more  days  for 
Him  than  one'^. 

To  St.  Paul's  operatur  then,  which  is  the  surest  sign  of  all. 
If  the  Spirit  of  God  lead  us.  He  will  always  keep  us  in  action; 
as  we  go  we  will  have  ever  somewhat  to  do  well,  and  be  still 
kept  to  work  under  Him  the  works  of  God.     For  as  each 

Mat.  7.  20.  spirit  besides,  so  has  this  His  proper  work ;  and  by  their 
works  ye  shall  know  them.  So  the  work  of  this  Spirit,  and 
of  them  that  are  led  by  Him,  saith  the  Apostle,  are  manifest; 

Gal.  5. 22.  are  joy,  and  love,  and  peace,  and  mercy,  and  meekness,  and 
faith,  and  temperance,  and  piety,  and  purity;  against  such 
there  is  no  exception,  but  that  they  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of 
Christ.     And  if  we  live  in  the  Spirit,  let  us  also  walk  and 

Gal. 5. 25.  work  in  the  Spirit;  it  is  the  same  Apostle.  But  who  ever 
heard  that  the  works  of  the  flesh,  which  is  enmity  with  God, 
came  from  the  Spirit  of  God  ?  Let  no  man  deceive  us ;  the 
works  of  uncleanness  come  not  from  the  holy,  but  from  the 
unclean  spirit.     The  works  of  darkness  come  not  from  the 

••  Namely,  the  Monday  and  Tuesday  in  Whitsun  week. 


The  Christian  must  forsake  evil  works.  129 

spirit  of  light,  nor  the  works  of  error  and  deceit  from  the  • 
spirit  of  truth.  I  might  enlarge  here  far.  Not  the  works  of 
envy  and  malice  from  the  spirit  of  love  and  meekness ;  not 
the  works  of  Cain  and  Judas  from  the  spirit  of  piety  and 
peace;  not  any  works  of  the  devil  from  the  Spirit  of  God. 
We  learn  as  much  at  the  very  door  of  the  Church,  at  the 
font  of  Baptism,  when  ye  come  to  christen  your  children, 
that  is,  to  baptize  them  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  to  put  them 
under  His  conduct.  I  trow  they  must  first  forsake  the  devil 
and  all  his  works ',  or  else  Baptism  they  get  none,  the  Holy 
Ghost  will  not  lead  them.  And  look,  as  it  was  at  your 
Baptism,  so  will  it  be  all  your  life  long ;  those  works  must  be 
left,  or  else  the  Spirit  of  God  is  none  of  your  leader,  some 
other  spirit  is,  I  named  Cain  and  Judas,  I  will  name  no 
more.  When  Cain  murmured  against  his  brother  for  oflFering  Gen.  4. 5. 
so  fat  a  sacrifice,  a  fatter  than  he ;  when  Judas  grudged  and  Joh.  12. 4. 
accused,  and  put  up  an  indictment  against  Mary  Magdalene's 
superfluity  and  superstition,  because  she  bestowed  so  much 
cost  upon  Christ's  body,  nay,  because  he  would  have  had  the 
money  to  put  up  within  his  own  pouch,  trow  ye  it  was 
the  love  of  Christ  that  led  them,  or  the  love  of  themselves  ? 
Nay,  an  ye  would  see  the  spirit  of  envy  lead  a  man  by 
the  ears,  look  upon  Cain  and  Judas,  and  such  as  they  are  ; 
their  works  will  shew  it. 

And  what  we  say  for  works  we  may  say  for  words  also ;  the 
words  be  not  so  sure,  yet  this  is  sure,  that  if  it  be  the  Spirit 
of  God  that  sits  upon  our  tongues,  as  He  came  in  that  shape  Acts  2. 3. 
to-day,  to  guide  and  rule  them  as  they  go,  (for  they  go  too 
in  their  way  otherwhiles  faster  than  fit,)  our  language  will  be 
as  our  works  are,  holy  and  religious,  and  such  (as  St.  Paul  PMl.  1.  27. 
saith)  becometh  saints.  But  if  cursing  and  bitterness,  the 
eloquence  of  this  country ;  if  many  a  foul  and  fearful  oath, 
the  language  of  these  times  ;  if  obscene  and  idle  communica- 
tion proceed  out  of  our  mouths,  it  is  a  plain  sign,  our  very 
speech  bewrays  us,  that  we  are  led  by  the  evil  speaker,  and 
in  Greek  his  name  is  Std^oXos  ;  but  they  that  are  led  by  the 
Spirit  here  of  the  text,  the  Spirit  of  this  day,  have  some  other 
language. 

Works,  and  words,  and  thoughts,  will  make  up  all ;  but  I 

'  Exliortation  to  godfathers  and  godmothers  in  the  Baptismal  Service. 

COSIN.  j^ 


130  The  Holy  Spirit  present  in  the  Eucharist. 

SEEM,  ^ill  not  speak  of  them,  since  in  the  best  evil  thoughts  may 

'■ —  arise  and  be  repelled  again,  and  then  do  they  no  hurt ;  if  we 

war  against  them  and  assent  not  to  them,  this  Spirit  will 
lead  us  still.  I  should  now  come  to  say  that  those  whom 
He  thus  leads,  and  those  who  are  thus  led  by  Him,  and 
resist  Him  not,  that  they  are  the  sons  of  God,  they,  and 
none  but  they.  But  this  will  ask  another  hour,  and  so 
another  time. 

Of  the  Sacrament  yonder  somewhat  would  be  said  too. 
But  now  I  think  of  it,  most  of  us  use  not  to  stay  it  out,  and 
for  them  that  do  use  it,  the  Church  itself  has  appointed  pre- 
faces and  exhortations  better  than  I  can  frame  any.  Yet 
this  let  me  say  for  it,  out  of  the  text,  that  they  who  are  led 
by  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  are  led  also  by  the  Sacrament  of 
Christ,  where  His  Spirit  is ;  and  at  least  I  am  sure  are  not 
led  from  it  whenever  they  come  near  it.  For  there,  if  ever, 
2  Pet.  1.  4.  we  are  made  the  sons  of  God  and  partakers  of  the  Divine 
nature  by  the  power  of  the  Spirit.  To  which  Spirit,  with  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  three  persons  and  one  ever-blessed  and 
immortal  God,  be  all  honour  and  glory,  &c.     Amen. 


SERMON  IX. 


BKANSFETH,  JULT  8,  1632. 

PKJECEPTUM  PRIMUM,  CON  CIO  PRIMA. 

^tijutoTium  nostrum  tn  llomtne  {Domini. 

Exodus  xx.  3. 
Non  habebia  deos  alienos  coram  Me. 

Thou  shall  have  no  other  Gods  before  My  face,  or,  no  other 
gods  but  Me. 

The  l^st  time,  if  you  remember,  we  stood  here  to  shew 
you  the  outward  frame  of  the  Decalogue ;  considered  how 
aptly,  how  orderly,  every  thing  was  placed  and  disposed 
in  it;  taught  you  how  to  number,  how  to  divide,  how  to 
order  the  commandments.  It  is  time  now  that  we  went  in 
to  take  a  view  of  every  several  commandment  by  itself. 

That  view,  God  enlightening  and  assisting  us,  shall  be 
first  set  upon  the  words  themselves,  to  see  how  they  are 
to  be  understood  and  explained  in  every  precept;  then 
upon  the  several  duties  of  the  precept,  to  see  what  God  in 
every  one  requires,  and  will  exact  at  our  hands ;  and  lastly, 
upon  the  various  violations  and  transgressions  of  the  pre- 
cept, to  see  how  and  wherein  we  may,  and  daily  do,  offend 
against  every  one  of  them. 

And  truly  I  judge  this,  especially  for  them  that  be  of  the 
ruder  sort  and  simple,  to  be  the  readiest  and  the  fittest  way 
of  instruction,  that  they  may  plead  no  ignorance  against  us, 
and  say  they  were  never  taught  what  the  duties  and  the 
breaches  of  the  law  were,  or  if  they  do,  that  we  may  plead 
with  Moses  against  them  and  say.  Behold  we  call  heaven  and  Deut.  30. 

K  2  ^^- 


132  Division  of  the  subject. 

SEEM,  earth  this  day  to  record  that  we  have  set  before  you  both 
— — —  the  one  and  the  other,  both  life  and  death,  both  blessing 
and  cursing,  the  duties  commanded,  and  the  sins  forbidden 
in  every  precept  of  the  Law. 

And  we  begin  this  day  with  the  first;  wherein  to  keep 
the  order  and  method  proposed  (I.)  for  the  explanation, 
first,  of  the  words  we  shall  have  somewhat  to  say  of  habebis, 
and  somewhat  of  alienos,  and  somewhat  of  every  word  of 
moment  in  the  text. 

(II.)  Then  for  the  duties  enjoined.  Three  propositions 
naturally  and  plainly  arising  from  the  words  themselves ; 
the  first  out  of  habebis,  that  we  must  have  a  God ;  the 
second,  out  of  Me,  that  we  must  have  the  true  God;  the 
third  out  of  alienos,  that  we  must  have  Him  alone,  and 
no  other; 

And  (III.)  lastly,  as  many  for  the  sins  here  forbidden. 
(1.)  Profauenesa,  opposed  to  God,  (2.)  false  worship,  opposed 
to  the  true  God,  (3.)  and  mixed  worship,  opposed  to  Go'd 
alone.  This  is  the  sum,  and  these  the  parts  of  which  we  are 
to  speak ;  though  we  shall  not  speak  of  all  to-day,  but  of 
some  we  shall.  And  of  which  that  we  may  speak  to  the 
honour  of  Almighty  God,  &c.  &c. 

THE    BIDDING    OF    THE    COMMON    PRAYERS. 

Pater  Noster,  ^c. 

There  are  in  this  commandment  three  words,  the  three 
first  words,  Tu  non  habebis,  that  would  be  first  observed. 

The  first,  common  with  this  to  all  the  rest,  that  they  all 
run  in  the  second  person  singular,  Tu ;  and  the  other, 
common  to  all  but  two,  that  they  run  negatively,  '  shalt  not/ 
and  run  in  the  future  tense,  non  habebis,  non  fades,  non 
assumes,  non  occides,  &c.  And  before  we  go  any  further, 
somewhat  would  be  learnt  even  out  of  this. 

(1.)  Out  of  the  first;  that  God's  law,  this  and  the  rest,  runs 
in  the  second  person  singular,  Audi  Israel,  tu  non  habebis, 
speaking  to  all  Israel,  and  to  all  the  world  besides,  as  to  one 
single  man,  this  we  learn,  that  God's  laws  appertain  to  all 
men  alike.  In  other  laws,  some  men  are  excepted ;  in  this 
of  His,  not  any,  but  all  made  equal,  all  made  as  one,  and  in 


Comprehensiveness  of  God's  commandments.  133 

respect  of  the  law,  or  the  bond  to  observe  the  law,  no 
respect  of  persons  had.  Therefore,  Tu,  here,  the  word  '  Thou,* 
is  as  forcible  as  if  there  were  so  many  Tu's,  and  the  word  as 
oft  repeated  as  there  be  men  and  women  in  the  world ;  Tu 
to  the  meanest,  and  Tu  to  the  greatest  among  us  all ;  that 
none  of  us  all  might  sooner  hear  it  than  apply  it  to  ourselves, 
and  say,  *  See  ye,  I  am  the  man  the  commandment  is  directed 
to,  is  spoken  to  me  as  well  as  to  any  one  besides ;  for  what 
difference  or  distance  soever  there  be  kept  between  us  in 
other  matters,  yet  in  this  of  obedience  and  service  to  God, 
Tu  makes  us  all  equal.'  Tu  is  as  every  man,  and  every  man 
as  one.  Therefore  as  it  was  given  to  the  basest  and  meanest 
of  the  army,  to  the  very  outcast  of  the  people,  (lest  they 
should  take  themselves  to  be  exempted,  as  commonly  the 
more  base,  the  more  presumptuous  and  lawless,)  so  it  was 
given  to  the  captains  and  leaders  of  the  army,  as  well,  to 
Moses  and  Aaron  and  to  the  elders  of  the  people,  (lest  they 
also  should  think  themselves  privileged,)  not  one  exempted, 
not  one  in  this  made  better  or  greater  than  another.  In 
other  cases,  those  that  are  greater  than  their  fellows,  and  can 
master  others,  think  themselves  free  from  laws ;  at  least  that 
the  laws  are  made  but  like  cobwebs,  for  them,  where  the 
hornets  break  through  and  the  poor  flies  are  catched ;  how- 
ever the  meaner  men  must  hear  and  suffer  for  their  faults, 
yet  that  nobody  must  say  Tu  to  them,  *  Thou  art  the  man.'  2  Sam.  12. 
So  is  it  with  us ;  but  so  is  it  not  here ;  for  by  virtue  of  this 
non  habebis  here,  and  non  mcechaberis  afterwards,  Nathan 
would  tell  David,  Tu  es  homo  ;  and  John  the  Baptist  reprove  2  Sam.  12. 
Herod  with  non  licet  tibi ;  kings  though  they  were,  yet  Tu  j^^j  ^^  ^ 
here  was  for  them  both. 

(2.)  The  next  is,  that  both  this,  and  most  an  end  the  rest 
of  the  commandments,  are  put  and  given  unto  us  in  the  nega- 
tive, non  habebis,  and  non  assumes ;  telling  us  what  we  shall 
not  do,  by  way  of  prohibition,  rather  than  what  we  should 
do,  by  way  of  precept.  And  therein  two  lessons  have  we  to 
learn,  two  observations  to  make.  The  first  is,  that  the  com- 
mandments are  so  much  the  stronger  by  a  rule  we  have  in 
logic.  Quia  ad  plura  se  extendit  negatio  quam  ajffirmatio ; 
negatives  go  further  than  afl&rmatives,  for  they  bind  most 
strictly,  semper  et  ad  semper ;  and  God  would  have  His  com- 


134  Affirmative  laws  implied  in  negative. 

SEEM,  mandments   go  as  far,  and  bind  as   sure,  as   any  rules  of 

'- —  extension  would  set  them.     Whereof  one  rule  is,  that  qui 

prohibit  impedimentum  prcecipit  adjumentum,  the  affirmative 
is  included  in  the  negative ;  another,  qui  negat  prohibens  jubet 
promovens,  ye  may  know  what  it  is  God  would  have  you  to 
do,  by  that  which  He  says  He  would  not  have  you  to  do ; 
removing  the  impediment,  by  the  negative,  that  the  precept 
may  be  kept  the  better,  and  performed  in  the  affirmative. 
Therefore  every  commandment  being  negative  but  two, 
Christ  in  the  Gospel  has  reduced  them  all  to  their  two 
affirmatives ;  and  as  much  may  be  said  for  them  that  are 
affirmative  likewise,  by  the  rule  a  contrariis,  so  that  every 
commandment  indeed  is  both  the  one  and  the  other.  And  " 
by  the  use  of  these  rules  it  is,  that  the  Rabbins  have  gathered 
two  hundred  and  forty-eight  affirmative  commandments  from 
the  books  of  Moses,  answerable  to  the  number  of  the  members 
and  joints  in  a  man's  body,  which  they  call  Prcecepta  fades, 
the  duties  that  we  are  to  do,  and  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  negatives,  answerable  to  the  number  of  the  days  of  the 
year,  which  they  call  Pracepta  non  fades,  the  ofi'ences  and 
sins  that  we  are  to  avoid,  (both  the  numbers  making  up  the 
number  of  the  letters  that  are  contained  in  the  Decalogue,) 
and  thereby  teaching  us  (though  in  a  mystical  yet  in  a  good 
sense)  that  all  the  members  of  the  body  and  all  the  days  of 
our  life  are  to  be  employed  and  spent  in  the  diligent  study 
and  observation  of  the  holy  commandments  of  God. 

Besides  this,  there  is  another  note  to  be  taken  from  this 
negative ;  and  it  is  to  shew  us  how  unfit  our  nature  is  to 
receive  a  commandment  to  do  any  thing,  till  by  a  counter- 
mand the  opposite  impediments,  and  such  things  as  will 
hinder  us  from  doing,  be  first  removed  from  us.  Such  is  the 
evil  indisposition  of  our  corrupt  and  depraved  nature,  full  of 
weeds  and  thorns  as  it  is,  that  being  incapable  of  good  seed, 
before  the  ground  be  cleansed  and  the  weeds  rooted  up,  God 


*  Distinguunt  Hebraei  praacepta  in  tot  constituunt,  quot  sunt  in  anno  dies, 

dupUcem  ordinem.     Alia  vocant  pras-  nempe  365,  quae  simul  cum  affirmati- 

cepta   faciendi,    quae    nos    affirnialiva  vis  constituunt  613,  ad  quae  expienda 

appellamus  j    quae   tot   esse  asserunt,  erant  a  lege  instituta  duo  sacrificiorum 

quot  sunt  membra  in  corpore  humano,  genera,  scilicet,  pro  peccato  et  pro  de- 

nempe248.    Alia  vocant  praecepta  non  licto. — Oleastri   Comment,   in  Penta- 

faciendi,quaeiios  dicimus  negativa,  quae  teuch.  p.  341,  edit.  Lugd.  1589. 


The  commandments  prospective.  135 

saw  it  good  and  requisite  thus  to  proceed  with  us ;  like  as 
when  we  are  to  rear  a  building  ourselves,  if  any  thing  has 
taken  up  the  place  already,  where  it  is  to  stand,  we  pull  it 
down,  or  cut  it  up,  and  remove  all  impediments  out  of  the 
way ;  if  the  ground  be  not  steady  to  build,  we  drain  it ;  if 
the  body  be  not  fit  to  receive  nourishment,  we  purge  it ;  if 
the  field  be  not  fit  to  sow  on,  we  lay  it  fallow  and  weed  it. 
It  is  the  course  God  has  taken  here  in  the  very  beginning, 
removing  that  by  a  negative,  which  might  otherwise  hinder 
the  affirmative  precepts  of  His  law ;  that  because  we  are  born 
in  evil,  and  are  naturally  more  prone  unto  it  than  unto  any 
good,  therefore  by  these  prohibitions  we  are  called  from  all 
corruption  to  the  integrity  wherein  He  first  created  us. 

(3.)  And  now  we  come  to  the  third ;  that  this  and  the  rest 
of  the  commandments  (all  but  two,  the  fourth  and  the  fifth, 
and  the  fourth  but  in  part,  excepted  neither)  are  given  us  in 
the  future  tense,  'Thou  shalt  not;'  not  in  the  imperative 
present,  as  other  laws  of  our  own  run ;  which,  as  it  is  ever 
a  secret  exprobation  of  our  sins  and  transgressions  past,  that 
whatsoever  we  will  be  for  the  time  to  come,  it  may  well  be 
known  by  this,  what  we  have  been  in  times  before ;  so  it  is 
a  good  admonition  to  us  withal,  for  the  time  still  future,  for 
the  days  that  we  have  to  live  hereafter ;  though  we  have  done 
amiss  and  dealt  wickedly  in  times  past,  and  therefore  should 
now  give  over,  yet  such  is  the  growing  and  successive 
wickedness  of  our  nature,  that  even  in  time  to  come  we  are 
then  as  ready  to  do  wickedly,  and  to  break  the  command- 
ments of  God  as  we  were  before ;  we  are  caught  in  our  own 
speech,  we  say  we  will  do  it  even  when  we  are  but  now  about 
to  do  mischief,  as  if  we  meant  not  to  leave  oflF  for  once,  but 
continue  so  doing  still.  Therefore  to  our  faciam  and  our 
habebOy  that  occurs  so  often  in  our  speech  and  actions,  for 
the  future  it  was  requisite  that  God  should  set  His  non  fades 
and  non  habebis  in  the  future  tense  too,  to  meet  with  us  both 
now  and  hereafter,  as  long  as  we  shall  have  any  future  time  to 
live ;  and  to  warn  us  withal,  that  though  we  do  well  never 
so  long,  yet  if  we  continue  not  so  doing  till  there  be  no  more 
future  time  to  come  with  us,  we  shall  not  be  discharged  of 
the  law,  but  non  habebis  and  non  Jades  will  be  of  force 
against  us  still.    Now  we  have  done  with  these  three,  which  as 


136        Idolatry  may  be  internal  as  well  as  external. 

SERM.  they  have  served  for  this,  so  they  shall  serve  for  all  the  rest 
'■ —  of  the  commandments  ;  I  will  repeat  them  no  more. 


This  commandment  is  against  idolatry.  Idolatry  is  either 
inward  or  outward ;  for  the  mind  and  the  heart  can  set  up 
an  idol,  and  commit  idolatry  within,  as  well  as  the  body  and 
the  knee  without;  therefore  for  outward  idolatry,  order  is 
taken  in  the  second  commandment,  for  inward  in  this  ;  and 
God  would  the  rather  make  two  commandments  of  them,  for 
that  the  world  might  know  all  idolaters  are  not  alike,  nor  all 
idolatry  condemned  and  left  when  men  have  left  off  bowing 
to  images,  or  condemn  them  that  so  do  never  so  fast,  for 
then  the  hypocrite  might  go  free,  and  at  home  in  secret 
commit  what  idolatry  he  listed.  The  heart  makes  the  idol 
as  well  as  the  hand,  and  God  hates  the  one  as  well  as  the 
other. 

Dent.  32.        All  such  idols  are  here  termed  deos  alienos,  strange  gods ; 

12".  '  '  quasi  res  alienantes  a  Deo,  things  that  withdraw  us  from  the 
love,  or  honour  and  worship  of  the  true  God. 

See  Poll        We   say  deos  alios,  *  no  other  gods,'  as   the  Septuagint 

^^ynops.in  j.gjj^gj.g  j|.^  ^^^  j^.  jg  ^^^e  fuller  expression,  that  is,  none  at  all 

besides,  for  that  He  is  all  in  all  Himself.  '  None  but  Me,' 
as  the  Greek  and  Chaldee  translate  it ;  '  none  before  Me,'  as 
the  Latin ;  '  none  against  Me,'  *  none  before  My  face,'  as  the 
Hebrew,  the  original,  bears  it ;  that  hereby  we  may  know,  in 
all  times,  and  in  all  places,  God  will  never  endure  to  have 
any  thing  either  more  or  as  much  regarded  as  He  is  to  be 
Himself;  coram faciebus  meis,  says  the  Hebrew,  in  the  plural 
number,  for  the  gods  we  use  be  many,  and  the  looks  He  has 
no  less,  to  eye  them  all,  though  never  so  secret,  and  to  out- 
face them  all,  though  never  so  many. 

For  the  better  conceiving  whereof,  and  of  the  sense  of  this 
whole  commandment,  it  is  needful  we  ask  and  resolve  two 
questions ;  the  first,  how  we  may  be  said  to  have  another 
God,  when  there  is  no  other  to  have  but  Him?  the  second, 
how  we  may  be  said  not  to  have  Him  to  be  our  God,  when, 
whether  we  will  or  no,  our  God  He  is  ? 

Other  gods  are  no  gods  at  all,  are  nothing,  ('We  know 
1  Cor.  8.  4.  that  an  idol  is  nothing,'  saith  St.  Paul,)  and  where  nothing  is, 
we  say  nothing  can  be  had.  This  is  the  question  ;  the  reso- 
lution is,  that  though  in  themselves  they  be  nothing,  yet  in 


How  we  may  have  other  gods.  137 

our  account  and  estimation  they  may  be  somewhat.  There- 
fore the  words  are,  non  erunt  tibi,  Ye  shall  have  no  other  to 
yourselves,  for  without  this,  sure  and  true  it  is,  that  there 
are  no  "others  to  have.  It  is  then  thereafter  as  a  inan's  re- 
gard is,  so  is  his  god ;  not  so,  simply,  but  so  had,  or  not  had, 
that  is,  had,  or  set  up  in  our  own  account ;  or  not  had, 
neglected  and  laid  aside,  as  not  esteeming  them  at  all.  And 
this  answers  both  the  questions  at  once.  If  we  regard  any 
thing  more  than  God,  it  is  another  god  unto  us ;  and  again, 
if  we  regard  not  Him  and  His  will  above  all.  He  is  no  God  to 
us  at  all,  none  as  far  as  we  can  make  Him  none,  for  other- 
wise our  only  God  He  is,  and  shall  be  so  for  ever.  It  is  in 
this  case,  as  between  a  rebel  and  his  prince,  he  would  have 
another  to  be  king,  that  other  is  as  good  as  nothing,  for  the 
prince  says  there  is  no  other  king  but  himself;  and  though 
the  rebel  would  not  have  it  so,  would  set  up  another,  and 
therefore  hath  him  not,  or  at  least,  would  not  have  him  to 
himself,  yet  the  truth  is,  he  hath  no  other  king  but  him 
indeed,  and  shall  still  have  him  to  be  his  king,  whether  he 
accounts  him  so  or  not ;  and  this  is  the  case  between  God  and 
us.  When  we  would  exempt  ourselves  from  His  service  we 
rebel  against  Him,  we  set  up  another  God  at  home  in  our 
hearts,  and  we  regard  Him  not,  we  have  Him  not,  that  is,  we 
have  Him  not  as  we  should  have  Him,  in  that  honour,  and 
fear,  and  regard,  as  becometh  us ;  for  otherwise  we  have  Him 
and  shall  have  Him,  whether  we  will  or  no.  And  again  the 
philosophers  say  well,  that  then  a  thing  is  had  when  it  is 
known  to  be  had,  otherwise  not ;  for  if  a  man  hath  a  treasure 
hid  in  his  ground  which  he  knows  not  of,  he  is  never  said  to 
have  it.  And  then  a  people  that  know  not  God,  that  are 
ignorant  both  of  Him  and  His  precepts  too,  how  can  they 
be  said  to  have  Him  ?  Again,  no  man  is  said  to  have  that 
whereof  he  makes  no  account,  as  of  cobwebs  and  straws  in 
our  houses ;  we  are  not  reckoned  to  have  them  in  our  inven- 
tory, because  we  make  no  reckoning  of  them  at  all,  because 
we  care  not  whether  we  have  them  or  no,  we  had  rather  be 
rid  of  them  than  have  them  to  trouble  us.  Into  either  of 
these  two  then  if  we  fall,  either  not  knowing  God,  (as  the 
nations  that  knew  Him  not,  saith  the  Psalmist,)  or  not  Ps.  79. 6. 
regarding  His  will,  as  the  worldly  men  that  despise  Him,  to 


138  What  it  is  to  *  have '  God, 

SEEM,  have  their  own,  fall  we  upon  the  breach  of  this  first  com- 
ix 
'■ —  mandment.      And  now  we  come  to  our  propositions,  that 


naturally  arise  out  of  the  precept.     Three  affirmative  first, 
and  then  three  negative. 

(1.)  That  plain  it  is,  out  of  this  precept  we  are  to  have 
a  God,  opposed  to  atheism,  that  has  none. 

(2.)  Then  the  true  God,  opposed  to  a  false  religion,  that 
sets  up  the  wrong  one. 

(3.)  And  lastly,  the  true  God  alone,  opposed  to  a  mixed 
religion,  that  sets  up  many  besides  Him. 

The  first  is  for  religion  itself,  the  second  for  the  truth  of 
religion,  and  the  third  is  for  the  sincerity  and  integrity  of 
religion ;  all  which  we  shall  be  bound  to  learn  and  observe, 
if  we  mean  to  learn  and  keep  this  first  commandment  of  the 
law.  I  will  despatch  one  of  them  to-day,  and  by  the  rest  ye 
may  know  my  method  and  intent  hereafter. 
» Formerly  Ere  whiles^  I  compared  the  law  of  God  to  a  building;  in 
a  building  the  foundation  must  be  first  laid,  and  this  is  the 
foundation  here  of  all  that  follows,  the  first  proposition,  that 
we  must  have  a  God ;  wherein  I  doubt  not  but  we  shall  all 
agree  with  the  Psalmist,  to  condemn  him  for  a  fool  that  says, 
Ps.  14. 1.  There  is  no  God.  The  very  heathen  themselves  would  not 
say  it ;  and  if  any  did,  says  Tully  ^,  there  was  a  fire  made 
to  make  him  away.  But  then,  if  there  be  one,  and  in  the 
mean  while  we  have  Him  not,  we  are  never  a  whit  the 
nearer.  The  duty  here  is  to  '  have '  Him.  What  is  that  ? 
To  know  Him,  to  acknowledge  and  love  Him,  to  recog- 
nise His  supreme  dominion  over  us,  to  give  Him  worship 
and  honour,  to  yield  Him  fear  and  obedience,  to  be  ruled 
by  His  will,  to  live  by  His  laws ;  this  is  to  have  a  God. 

Indeed  this  to  have  Him,  that  we  have  not  ourselves,  and 
become  our  own  gods ;  for  our  own  gods  we  become  when  we 
be  not  guided  by  Him.  If  there  be  not  a  superior  will  over 
us  to  rule  and  control  ours,  or  if  our  wills  be  our  own,  and 
Gen.  3.  5.  (as  the  devil  told  the  woman)  if  we  may  judge  of  good  and 
evil,  as  we  like  best  ourselves,  according  to  the  mind  we  have, 

'  Perhaps  the  following  is  the  pas-  posuisset,  *De  diis,  neque  ut  sint,  ne- 

sage  referred  to.    Nam  Abderites  qui-  que  ut  non  sint,  habeo  dicere,'  Atheni- 

dam  Protagoras,  cujus  a  te  modo  mentio  ensium  jussu  urbe  atque  agro  est  exter- 

facta  est,  sophistes  temporibus  illis  ve]  minatus,  librique  ejus  iu  concione  com- 

raaximus,  cum  in   principio  libri  sic  busti. — De  natura  Deor.  i.  23. 


Practical  atheism  as  well  as  theoretical.  139 

or  have  not,  towards  it,  in  any  duty  that  belongs  us ;  then 
are  we  the  gods  ourselves,  and  a  God  above  us  acknowledge 
we  none.  Therefore  eritis  dii  struck  right  here,  and  the 
devil  said  true  in  that  sense,  that  they  should  be  gods ;  for  Gen.  3. 5. 
they  did  their  own  will,  and  not  His;  and  in  that  very  re- 
spect were  gods  to  themselves. 

The  duty  then  enjoined,  ye  see,  that  the  will  of  God  be 
our  will;  that  His  law  be  our  rule  aud  guide,  and  then  we 
have  Him. 

The  sin  opposed  and  forbidden,  other  men  call  atheism ; 
but  because  we  all  confess  a  God,  whether  we  have  Him  or 
no,  we  will  call  this  sin  profaneness.  When  though  there  be 
a  God,  we  will  have  none  for  all  that ;  no  god,  nor  no  law  to 
control  our  own  liking  ;  but  every  man  will  be  a  god  and  a 
law  to  himself,  to  do  that  only  which  seems  good  in  his  own 
eyes,  like  the  sons  of  Belial  in  the  book  of  Judges,  that  did  Judg.  17. 
every  one  what  they  had  a  Inst  to  do  themselves,  when  there  &c.  *  ' 
was  no  king  in  Israel  to  rule  them.  It  is  that  the  world 
labours  for,  and  every  man  studies  with  himself  how  to  bring 
it  to  pass,  even  at  this  day ;  not  to  be  in  subjection  under 
any  commandments  whatsoever,  not  to  have  a  yoke  upon 
them,  nor  to  be  forced  nor  bound  to  any  thing  but  what  they 
are  willing  to  do  of  themselves,  and  then  they  say  it  would 
be  a  merry  world.  A  merry,  or  a  miserable?  for  then  the 
first  thing  they  did,  they  would  surely  raze  out  this  first  com- 
mandment, they  would  have  no  director,  no  lawgiver,  no 
commander,  no  God  at  all ;  or  if  they  had,  he  should  be  such 
a  one  as  would  take  care  to  provide  only  for  their  ease,  and 
not  for  his  own  honour;  and  that  would  exact  no  service  from 
their  hands,  nor  no  works  from  their  hands,  but  specially 
and  above  all,  no  tribute  from  their  purses ;  one  that  would  fill 
their  bellies  and  clothe  their  bodies,  and  not  be  too  curious 
about  their  souls,  or  their  religion  howsoever;  in  sum,  one 
that  would  command  them  nothing  which  is  unpleasing,  nor 
forbid  them  anything  which  they  have  a  mind  to  follow. 
But  be  it  far  from  the  just  to  harbour  these  thoughts,  or  to 
follow  the  gross  and  bestial  conceits  of  these  ungodly  men. 

It  is  the  sin  of  profaneness,  forbidden  here  with  the  first, 
and  directly  opposed  to  the  having  and  acknowledging  of  a 
God  over  us,  that  gives  Him  honour  neither  quern,  nor  quart- 


140    Profanen^ss  not  less  dangerous  because  concealed. 

S  E  B  M.  turn  oportet,  but  as  if  all  were  nothing  ;  make  no  more  of  His 
-- — '- —  laws,  nor  no  other  esteem  of  religion,  than  Esau  did  of  his 

Gren  25  o        ^ 

34.  birthright,  that  sold  it  all  away  to  fill  his  belly;  but  whom 

the  Holy  Ghost,  notwithstanding,  for  setting  so  light  a  price 
upon  it,  hath  condemned  for  a  profane  person  by  the  words 

Heb.  12.     of  St.  Paul. 

^^'  Indeed  profaneness,  in  our  usual  apprehension  and  lan- 

guage, is  now-a-days  restrained  to  the  fury  only  of  that  wicked 
brood,  whose  irreligious  humour  is  boldly  to  scofiF  at  Heaven  ; 
and  by  their  wicked  and  licentious  mouths  every  where  to  set 
abroach  what  their  untamed  lust  suggesteth  to  them.  But 
there  be  more  profane  persons  than  they.  Those  that  shut 
their  mouths  never  so  soberly,  and  yet  carry  the  bit  in  their 
teeth  within,  that  they  may  run  where  they  list  and  have 
none  of  these  laws,  we  preach  to  them  to  bridle  them,  and  to 
keep  them  in,  either  to  the  shewing  of  any  honour  to  God, 
or  to  the  due  performance  of  His  worship  and  service,  (which 
are  the  duties  of  this  precept,)  they  come  within  the  number 
of  profane  persons,  express  breakers  of  this  commandment, 
as  well  as  the  rest ;  and  though,  peradventure,  their  sayings 
be  not  so  open  and  so  gross,  yet,  in  another  kind,  their 
doings,  their  wilfulness,  their  neglect,  their  grudging,  their 
contempt  and  slighting  of  things  sacred,  is  as  ill  as  theirs. 
This  is  their  sin ;  and  if  the  punishment  were  now  added 
that  of  old  was  annexed  to  this  sin,  ut  ne  prof  anus  intra  fanum 
venerit,  that  they  who  so  lightly  regard  their  God,  should 
have  no  benefit  from  Him,  should  never  come  into  His 
courts,  nor  know  what  religion  nor  things  sacred  were,  there 
might  be  some  hope  of  amends  :  and  yet  the  punishment 
most  an  end  is  slighted  as  much  as  the  sin  itself  is,  while 
common  people  account  it  rather  a  pleasure  than  a  punish- 
ment to  be  kept  from  the  temple ;  and  therefore,  if  nobody 
will  do  it  for  them,  they  will  do  it, without  you  of  themselves. 
And  think  ye  that  they  have  a  God  that  do  so  ?     Let  them 

Mai.  1.  6.  answer  the  prophet  Malachi,  whether  they  have  or  no.  If 
He  be  a  God,  where  is  His  honour?  where  the  honour  of 
His  person,  or  the  fear  of  His  laws ;  and  ye  have  scoflfed,  ye 
have  snufi*ed  at  it,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  In  efi'ect,  such 
men  would  be  gods  to  themselves,  and  have  none  besides  to 
govern  them. 


Punishment  accompanies  prof aneness.  141 

The  punishment  we  spake  of  before,  of  being  kept  from 
God  or  His  worship,  that  care  not  for  it,  works  but  little.  I 
will  tell  you  of  another  kind  of  punishment  usually  annexed 
to  this  sin,  more  likely  to  work  upon  the  common  people,  and 
to  affect  them  to  some  better  purpose  than  the  other;  it  shall 
be  corporal  punishment,  if  that  or  the  fear  of  that  may  do 
any  good  (for  other  punishment  regard  they  none ;)  and  with 
that  will  we  end  both  this  point  and  this  time  together. 

The  Scripture  tells  us  of  such  sons  of  Belial  that  scorned  Dent.  13. 
all  religion,  and  would  have  neither  God  nor  Lord  over  them ;  19.  22; 
and  what  became  of  them  ?  the  flood  came  and  swept  them  Gen.^7.*5n 
away ;  the  fire  came  and  devoured  them  up ;  the  sea  opened  22. 
and  overwhelmed  them  all,  the  earth  opened  and  carried  Ex.  14.  28. 
them  quick  into  hell.     So  heinous  a  sin  was  it,  not  to  ac-  32. 
knowledge  their  God,  or  to  dally  with  religion. 

The  historians  tell  us  no  less.  Diagoras*  was  a  pro- 
fessed atheist,  we  will  not  mention  him;  but  Phericydes 
the  Syrian,  of  whom  Diogenes  Laertius  *  writes  that  he  was 
never  so  impudent  as  to  deny  there  was  a  God ;  but  one  day 
making  jollity  among  his  fellows,  and  boasting  that  God 
never  got  either  prayer,  or  oflfering,  or  gift,  or  sacrifice  from 
him,  the  word  was  no  sooner  gone  from  him,  but  as  Herod  in 
the  Acts,  he  was  smitten  by  an  Angel  of  God,  and  eaten  up 
with  lice.  Lucian*  was  another  of  the  brood,  a  profane 
scoffer  that  neither  regarded  God  nor  any  of  His  precepts; 
being  once  abroad  and  having  newly  vented  his  scorn  of 
religion,  to  others  that  stood  by,  the  very  dogs  (wherein  his 
chief  delight  was)  being  fast  shut  up  at  home,  brake  all  loose 
on  the  sudden,  and  came  and  tare  him  in  pieces.  Julian^  the 
apostate  was  such  another  as  he ;  his  lewdness  this  way  was 
notorious,  his  end  was  no  less,  when  in  his  army  being 
stricken  with  an  arrow,  he  rent  out  his  own  guts  with  it, 
and  cast  his  blood  into  the  air  with  blasphemy.  I  could 
tell  you  of  the  Florentine^  abroad  that  rotted  away  by 
piece-meal,  and  of  Hacket  ^  here  at  home,  that  would  needs 

*=  Diagoras,   atheos  qui  dictus   est,  457,  edit.  Cantab,  1705. 
posteaque    Theodorus,    nonne    aperte  '  Sozom.  vi.  2.  p.  220.  edit.  Reading, 

deorum  naturam  sustulerunt? — Cicero  ^  Namely,  Macliiavelli;  see  Bayle'a 

de  naturaDeor.  I.i.  §23:  seealso§42.  Diet.  p.  2079,  edit.  1710. 

••  Diog.  Laert.  i.  74,  edit.  Meibomii,  ^  See  Camden's  Annals  of  Elizabeth, 

Amst.  1692.  in  Kennel's  Complete  History,  ii.  563, 

•  See  Suidas  in  voc.  \ovkmv6s,  ii.  564. 


142  Inference  from  the  doctrine. 

;eem.  have  no  other  God  but  himself,  and  died  upon  the  gibbet, 

'- —  no  wretch  more  miserable.     I  say  no  more,  but  falix  quern 

faciunt,  and  that  which  the  heathen  man  set  upon  Senna- 
cherib's tomb^,  is  ifjue  Tt9  opewv,  eucreyS^?  ecrTco.  Whosoever 
sees  or  hears  any  of  these,  let  him  learn  to  acknowledge 
a  God,  to  have  Him  in  regard,  and  to  be  ruled  by  His 
laws;  which  God  of  His  infinite  goodness  grant  that  we 
may,  and  by  the  power  of  His  grace  and  Spirit  work  in 
us  effectually  to  perform,  even  for  His  mercy's  sake  in 
Christ  Jesus.  To  which  undivided  Trinity,  three  persons 
and  one  God,  &c.  &c. 

»  Herodot.  Euterp.  141. 


SERMON  X. 


PR^CEPTUM  PRIMUM,  CONCIO  SECUNDA. 

Exodus  xx.  3. 
Non  habebis  deos  alienos  coram  Me. 
Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  but  Me. 

Three  propositions  we  set  forth,  as  naturally  arising  out 
of  this  precept.  The  first  out  of  the  word  habebis,  that  we 
must  have  a  God,  have  Him  in  honour  and  regard,  have  Him 
in  account  and  estimation  far  above  ourselves,  and  above  all 
things  that  we  have  besides.  This  the  duty  commanded, 
opposed  to  the  sin  forbidden,  the  sin  of  atheism  and  pro- 
faneness,  whereby  every  one  becomes  a  God  to  himself,  and 
will  be  tied  to  do  no  more  than  what  seems  good  in  his  own 
eyes  alone.  And  thus  far  are  we  gone  already,  neither  love 
we  to  go  backwards,  nee  repetere  gradum. 

We  go  on  therefore  to  the  second  proposition,  out  of  the 
word  Me.  That  it  is  not  enough  to  have,  unless  we  have  the 
true  one ;  that  instead  of  the  right  we  set  not  up  a  wrong 
god ;  and  where  we  should  betake  us  to  the  verity  of  reli- 
gion, we  fasten  not  upon  a  false  worship,  and  a  fond  reli- 
gion, that  God  never  taught  us.  This  the  duty  that  we  are 
to  learn  to-day,  wherein  we  shall  have  somewhat  to  say  of 
the  heathenish,  and  somewhat  of  the  Romish  superstition 
and  impiety  abroad,  somewhat  also  of  our  own  impiety  and 
superstition  here  at  home.  Against  all  which  this  precept 
goeth  forth.  Against  their  idolatry,  (so  I  will  be  bold  to  call 
it  now,  and  prove  it  afterwards,)  their  idolatry,  I  say,  in 
deifying  men ;  in  believing,  trusting,  honouring,  invocating, 
some  of  them  more  than  they  do  God  Himself     And  then 


144  Subjects  hereafter  to  be  discussed. 

SEEM,  against  the  relics  of  our  own  impiety;  for  some  relics  we 
^ —  have  among  us,  (it  cannot  be  denied,)  as  well  of  the  hea- 
thenish as  of  the  Romish  superstition,  left  still  in  our  cor- 
rupt and  depraved  affections,  specially  in  the  affections  of 
the  common  people,  such  as  some  of  you  are,  who  be  most 
rude  and  ignorant,  and,  as  ye  say,  will  needs  do  as  your  fore- 
elders  did,  though  they  deified  their  own  fancies,  and  made 
» a  grand-  more  account  of  an  old  beldame's^  charm  and  a  wizard's 
Bee  Nares.  divining  of  things  to  come,  than  of  all  the  oracles  and  laws 
of  God  whatsoever.  And  here  we  shall  have  somewhat  to  say 
against  your  custom  of  seeking  after  soothsayers  and  witches, 
with  other  fond  and  superstitious  observations  among  you; 
whereby  ye  transfer  that  power  and  honour  to  another  thing 
which  properly  belongs  unto  God ;  and  therefore  shall  stand 
indicted  as  open  offenders  against  this  statute,  the  first  com- 
mandment of  the  law.  Of  these  we  are  to  say.  But  to  the 
end  that  what  we  say  may  be  to  the  honour  of  God,  and  to 
the  amendment  of  our  own  faults,  I  shall,  &c.  &c. 

THE    BIDDING    OF    THE    COMMON    PRAYERS. 

Pater  Noster. 

Non  habebis  deos  alios  prater  Me.  The  meaning  is,  that 
any  God,  or  any  religion,  will  not  serve  us.  The  duty  is, 
that  we  seek  out  the  true  one ;  that  we  set  not  up  a  false 
God  to  worship,  nor  a  wrong  religion  to  follow.  For  there 
be  many  religions,  and  many  gods  abroad  in  the  world ;  and 
yet  among  them  all,  there  is  but  one  God,  and  one  faith,  and 
one  religion  to  hold  by. 

(1.)  And  first,  I  shall  not  need  to  say  much  about  the 
heathenish  impiety,  the  gross  and  brutish  idolatry  that  the 
nations  of  old,  and  many  of  them  at  this  day,  commit  against 
this  first  commandment.  It  is  strange  to  see  and  fearful, 
how  the  devil  blinded  them,  through  ignorance  and  madness 
together.  They  set  up  every  one  his  own  god,  nay  and  every 
one  his  several  gods  too,  for  all  the  purposes  he  had  under 
heaven.  One  god  for  his  country,  and  another  for  his  house; 
one  for  his  purse,  and  another  for  his  paunch;  they  never 
had  gods  enough ;  and  any  thing  that  would  do  them  good, 
or  that  they  thought  might  do  them  any  hurt,  whether  it 


Plurality  of  gods  among  the  heathen.  145 

were  man  or  beast,  the  stars  above,  or  the  very  creeping 
worms  and  herbs  below,  to  that  would  they  offer  sacrifice, 
and  pray  as  devoutly  to  it,  as  if  all  their  woe  and  welfare 
had  depended  upon  it.  An  idle  and  an  ignorant,  and  yet 
a  covetous  and  a  base  people  were  they,  from  whence  all 
this  impiety  proceeded. 

The  relics  of  which  impiety  are  not  yet  rooted  out :  to  7^/5 
Tp4(fiov  fie,  said  he  in  Euripides,  and  ^by  this  we  get  our  Hecub,  1. 
living,  as  said  they  in  the  Acts,  are  two  rules  that  square  ^cts  i9 
men's  religion  still ;  and  any  thing  that  will  do  them  good,  25. 
they  are  ready  yet  to  offer  it  what  sacrifice  you  please. 

But  one  thing  I  would  have  you  heed  ;  it  was  for  want  o^ 
knowledge  that  this  impiety  got  head;  they  were  not  dili- 
gent to  find  out  the  true  God,  and  the  right  way  to  worship 
Him,  and  therefore  they  were  content  with  auy,  the  next 
that  came  to  hand. 

In  hac  fide  natus  sum,  in  hac  moriar,  as  Auxentius  *  was 
wont  to  say,  so  did  his  elders  before  him,  and  there  was  all 
the  care  he  took.  This  was  their  case,  and  it  is  to  be  feared 
lest  the  devil  should  make  some  of  your  cases  alike,  while 
they  among  you  that  are  ignorant  will  be  ignorant  still,  and 
take  no  thought  (so  they  may  live  and  like)  either  what  god 
they  serve,  or  what  religion  they  profess. 

(2.)  We  come  to  another  impiety,  that  hath  been  the 
offspring  and  issue  of  this ;  the  impiety  of  some  Christians 
(I  mean  the  Papists)  that  are  ready  to  persuade  some  of  you 
to  their  own  errors,  and  say  that  this  is  none  of  God's  com- 
mandments ;  and  that,  I  know  not  what  or  how  many  saints 
may  be  worshipped  and  prayed  to,  as  well  as  He.  Wherein 
that  ye  may  conceive  the  vanity  of  that  part  of  their  re- 
ligion the  better,  I  will  take  the  pains  to  compare  it  with 
this  kind  of  superstition,  which  of  old  time  was  used 
among  the  heathens,  against  whom  this  precept  of  God 
went  forth. 

The  variety  and  multitude  of  the  heathen  gods  was  great, 
(above  whom,  notwithstanding,  they  acknowledged  one  su- 
preme lord,  as  the  Papists  do,)  but  for  their  inferior  gods, 
that,  as  they  said,  were  better  at  leisure  than  he,  would  be 
sooner  spoken  to,  were  his  favourites,  would  take  care  of  what 

»  S.  Hilarii  0pp.  col.  1270,  ed.  Par.  1693. 

COSIN.  L 


]  46  Instances  of  saints  made 

■  S  E  B  M.  they  wanted  here  below,  of  these,  saith  St.  Austin  ^,  thirty 
'■ thousand   may  be  numbered ;    and  his  author  was  Varro. 


Some  of  these  were  to  teach  them  the  secrets  of  nature,  they 
dwelt  in  an  upper  mansion  (they  say)  above  the  sun  ;  and 
others  to  expound  them  their  dreams  and  fancies,  these  they 
placed  a  rank  lower,  and  said  they  had  not  so  great  a  power 
as  the  rest  had.  So  some  they  called  dii  majores,  the  ancient 
and  the  great  gods,  they  that  were  over  many  nations  and 
countries  together ;  others  but  dii  minuti,  and  ascriptitii, 
that  were  but  lately  let  into  the  number,  and  had  but  the 
care  of  men's  persons,  or  their  families,  and  towns  at  the 
most.  So  that  among  them  all,  distribution  was  made  of  the 
whole  world  to  govern  it ;  some  to  help  men  by  sea,  and 
some  to  have  a  care  over  them  at  land;  some  to  dwell  within 
their  woods,  and  others  to  be  placed  over  their  cities ;  some 
for  regions  and  provinces,  and  others  for  families  and  private 
houses  ;  one  for  their  corn,  and  another  for  their  cattle  ;  the 
rich,  the  poor,  the  artificer,  every  one  had  his  god. 

For  all  the  world  as  the  practice  is  in  Popery  '^,  where  for 
every  region,  city,  and  family,  for  every  man,  and  every 
state  and  profession  of  men ;  for  every  fruit  of  the  earth, 
every  beast  of  the  field,  every  disease  of  the  body,  they  have 
appointed  a  peculiar  saint,  to  whom  they  pray  as  devoutly, 
and  from  whom  they  expect  help  and  defence  as  securely, 
as  from  God  Himself. 

So  the  Spaniards  call  upon  St.  James,  and  the  French 
upon  St.  Denis;  the  Germans  they  call  upon  St,  Martin,  and 
the  Hungars  upon  St.  Lewis,  as  of  old  the  Scots  did  upon 
St.  Andrew,  and  the  English  here  upon  St.  George.  These 
for  countries ;  in  cities,  at  Milan,  St.  Ambrose  is  their  pa- 
1  Cologne  tron,  and  at  Colon  ^  the  Three  Kings;  at  Auspurg^  St.  Hul- 
«  Augs-  deric;  and  otherwhere  St.  Quintine,  St.  Valentine,  St.  Thomas, 
St.  John ;  here  at  home,  St.  Brandon  '^  and  St.  Cuthbert  ® 
have  been  deified. 

The  mariners  they  call  upon  St.  Nicholas,  and  St.  Chris- 
topher ;    the  physicians  upon  St.  Luke ;    the  lawyers  upon 

''  S.  August,  de  Civit.  Dei,  iii.  12:  of  Branspath,   where  this  sermon  was 

vi.  2,  &c.  preached.     See  Hutchinson's  Hist,  of 

•^  See  Gerhard.  Confessio  Catholica,  Durham,  iii.  312,  ed.  Carlisle,  1794. 

p.  1006,  edit.  1679.  *  The  patron  saint  of  the  diocese  of 

''  St.  Brendan  was  the  patron  saint  Durham. 


special  patrons  by  the  Romanists.  147 

Ivo,  the  gentlemen  upon  St.  George,  the  tradesmen  upon 
St.  Loy,  St.  Crispin,  St.  Gutman,  St.  Eustace,  and  a  hundred 
more  besides. 

The  care  of  their  vineyards  they  commend  to  St.  Urban* 
of  their  horse  to  St.  Loy,  of  their  hogs  to  St.  Antony,  of 
their  oxen  to  Pelagius,  and  of  their  pullaine '  to  Wendelin.    'poultry. 

When'  they  would  not  have  their  com  hurt  by  tempest 
they  hold  up  and  fall  down  to  St.  John  the  Evangelist;  when 
they  fear  burning  by  fire,  St.  Agatha  is  their  goddess  ;  and 
when  they  fear  the  plague,  they  run  to  St.  Sebastian  for 
mercy  and  pity  to  be  shewn  upon  them ;  when  they  are 
troubled  with  a  fever,  they  call  upon  St.  Petronellc ;  and 
when  their  teeth  pain  them,  they  bemoan  themselves  to 
St.  Apoline.  St.  Felicitie  is  called  upon  for  children,  St. 
Margaret  for  a  safe  delivery,  and  St.  Barbaric  for  a  good 
departure  out  of  the  world.  It  were  infinite  to  number  up 
all.  But  I  trow  this  is  sufficient  to  shew  their  vanity,  their 
impiety,  their  manifest  contempt  and  breach  of  this  precept, 
when  they  have  so  many  gods  to  run  to,  so  many  helpers  to 
trust  to  besides  One ;  and  let  no  man  deceive  you,  they  that 
hold  of  this  religion,  they  hold  of  a  wrong  one,  and  one 
that  will  deceive  them  all  at  last. 

Neither  shall  their  distinction  of  'oblique'  and  'relative, 
of  indirect  and  transitory,  of  secondary  and  mediate  prayers 
serve  their  turn,  for  the  world  can  never  be  got  to  believe 
that  oblique  and  relative  prayers  (such  as  we  would  use  to 
holy  men  here  upon  earth)  is  all  that  is  sought  for,  seeing  it 
is  most  evident,  both  by  their  practice  abroad,  and  their  con- 
tinual use  here  at  home,  to  pray  directly,  absolutely,  and 
finally  to  their  saints,  as  to  them  that  had  as  much  power  as 
God  Himself,  to  give  and  forgive  them  what  they  will  ask  ». 

'  Compare  with  this,  the  following  A  similar   but  more   extended    cata- 

extract  from  "White  against  Fisher,  p.  logue  is  given  by  Gerhard,  Locc.  Com, 

344,  fol.  Lond.  1624.— ApoUoniais  for  de  Morte,   §  353,   (torn,  xviii.   p.  69, 

the  toothache,  Otilia  for  bleared  eyes,  edit.  Cottae,)  too  long  to  transcribe,  but 

S.  Kochus  for  the  poxe,  Erasmus  for  agreeing  in  most  points  with  the  parti- 

the  iliac  passion,  Blasius  for  the  quin-  culars  mentioned  by  Cosin. 

sey,  Petronilla  for  fevers,  S.  Wendelin  t  This  is  admitted  by  Azorius,  Tho- 

is  for  sheep  and  oxen,  S.  Anthony  for  log.  Moralis,  I.  ix.  cap.  10.      Sanctos 

hogs,  S.  Gertrudis  for  mice  and  rats,  non    solum   honoramus   eo  cultu  quo 

S.  Nicholas  is  the  patron  of  sailors,  S.  viros  virtute,    sapientia,  potentia,  aut 

Clement  of  bakers,  S,  George  of  horse-  qualibet  alia  dignitate  praestantes  ;  sed 

men,  S.  Eulogius  of  smiths,  S.Luke  of  etiam  divino  cultu  et  honore,  qui  est 

painters,  S.  Cosmas  of  physicians,  &c.  religionis  actus.     Nani  ille  cultus  qui 

l2 


148     Direct  invocation  addressed  to  the  blessed  Virgin. 

SEEM.  They  say  to  the  blessed  Virgin,   'O  holy  Mother  of  God, 

^ —  vouchsafe  to  keep  us,  we  worship  thy  name,  and  that  world 

without  end  ;  let  thy  mercy  lighten  upon  us,  as  our  trust  is 
in  thee/  And  again,  *  In  thee  only'  (and  what  can  be  said 
more  to  God  ?)  '  In  thee  only  have  I  trusted,  let  me  never  be 
confounded  '\*  This  to  her ;  and  to  others,  Tu  dona  caelum,  Tu 
1  •  perdue  ad  gloriam,  pestem  fuge,  solve  a  peccatis,  in  direct  and 

plain  terras,  so  absolute  that  I  know  not  what  can  be  raore^; 
and  sure  I  am,  that  we  have  no  more  for  God,  and  for  Christ 
Himself.  Insomuch  that  we  may  be  bold  to  conclude  and 
to  assure  you  all,  that  whoever  they  be  that  practise  them- 
selves, or  persuade  any  other  to  use  this  kind  of  religion, 
they  do  it  by  some  other  precept,  for  precept  of  God  have 
they  none.  Nay  this  precept,  this  command  of  His,  [is  di- 
rectly set  up  against  them ;  and  thougli  the  memory  of  the 
saints  be  precious  among  us,  and  ought  so  to  be,  though  we 
honour  their  glorified  persons,  though  we  sing,  and  praise, 
and  magnify  their  virtues,  though  we  teach  all  generations 
to  call  them  blessed,  yet  for  all  this,  the  commandment  of 
God,  and  the  glory  of  God,  of  their  God  and  ours,  is  precious 
to  us  above  them  all,  and  so  let  it  be  for  ever;  and  let  all 
the  people  say  Amen. 

I  have  done  with  the  impiety,  the  breach  of  this  command- 
ment abroad,  and  now  I  am  loath,  nay  I  am  sorry  to  find  any 
at  home;  but  even  amongst  ourselves  this  precept  is  also 
torn  in  pieces,  and  religion  suffers  violence  from  many  of  our 
people,  as  well  as  it  does  from  others,  even  in  this  very  point 
of  Me  and  non  alium ;  for  what  shall  we  say  other,  what  shall 
we  otherwise  conceive  of  them,  who,  when  they  have  neither 
faith,  hope,  nor  trust  in  God,  know  not  His  power,  know  not 

viris  primariis  defertur,  non  est  reli-  inimicis  meis  libera  me,  domlna.  Ps,  7. 

gionis,  sed  alterius  longe  inferioris  vir-  Conserva  me,  domina,  quia  speravi 

tutis,   quae  observantia   vocatur,   actus  in  te.     Ps.  15. 

et   officium.      Sed   divinos    cultus    et  In  te,  domina,  speravi,  non  confun- 

honores   Sanctis    non    damns    propter  dar  in  aeternum ;  in  gloria  tua  suscipe 

ipsos,    sed    propter    Deum,     qui    eos  me.     Ps.  30. 

sanctos  eflicit.  In  te,  domina  speravi,  non  confun- 

''  The  following  extracts  from   the  dar  in  seternum  ;  in  tua  misericordia 

Psalter  of  Cardinal  Bonaventura  (in  libera  me  et  eripe  me.     Ps.  70. 

which  the  expressions  applied  by  David  See  further   Gibson's   Preservative, 

to  our  Lord  are  adapted  to  the  Virgin)  vol.  iii.  tit.  ix.  p.  32,  &c. 

bear  out  the  accuracy  of  the  statements  '  See  Gibson's  Preservative,  vol.  iii. 

in  the  text.  tit.  ix.  p.  184. 

Domina    mea,    in    te    speravi  j    de 


Application  to  witches  censured.  149 

His  providence,  nor  have  any  care  to  learn  them  neither,  Ex.  7.  ii. 
(as  it  was  Pharaoh's  case  and  Saul's  after  him,)  run  to  the  ^  ^*™-  ^• 
soothsayers,  and  the  woman  witch  of  Endor,  to  ask  help  of 
the  devil  and  so  make  a  god  of  him.  I  trow  this  is  as  bad 
as  popery,  if  it  be  not  worse ;  and  yet,  as  if  it  were  good  law- 
ful Christianity  among  us,  we  run  to  a  wizard,  that  they  may 
ask  the  devil  counsel  for  us,  as  readily,  nay  and  a  great  deal 
more  readily  too,  many  of  us,  than  we  run  hither  to  God. 

Two  sorts  of  miscreant  and  wicked  people  we  have;  the 
first  challenging  and  taking  to  themselves,  the  second  attri- 
buting and  giving  unto  others,  that  power  which  only  apper- 
taineth  unto  God. 

For  there  are,  who  if  any  grief  or  sickness  befalls  them,  if 
they  happen  to  have  any  loss  of  children,  or  corn,  or  cattle, 
or  other  goods  whatsoever,  are  by-and-by  exclaiming  and 
crying  out  that  they  are  bewitched,  that  such  a  woman  has 
done  them  harm,  that  such  another  can  do  them  good ; 
therefore  to  the  one  they  seek  for  help,  of  the  other  they 
seek  revenge.  And  all  this  while  God's  commandment  is 
not  so  much  as  thought  of,  but  to  other  helpers  they  run, 
as  if  there  were  no  God  in  Israel,  That  ordereth  all  things  ac- 
cording to  His  will,  in  Whose  hands  are  life  and  death,  sick- 
ness and  health,  wealth  and  woe,  and  Who  hath  therefore 
commanded  us  in  all  our  necessities  to  resort  unto  Him. 

And  what  a  scandal  is  it  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  to  the 
profession  of  our  faith,  that  the  glory  and  power  of  God 
should  be  so  abridged  and  abated,  as  to  be  thrust  into  the 
hands  or  lips,  or  medicines,  or  charms  of  a  lewd  '  old  woman,  » ignorant 
woman  or  man,  or  whosoever  j  that  the  power  of  the  Creator 
should  be  attributed  unto  any  creature  at  all;  that  there 
should  be  such  gross  and  reckless  presumption,  either  in  the 
one  or  the  other,  as  to  take  Christ's  office  from  Him,  as  to 
take  upon  them  to  heal  and  cure  diseases,  to  foretell  things 
to  come,  to  tell  the  secrets  of  the  mind,  whereby  He  was 
specially  known,  and  made  known, to  be  God;  that  if  any 
happen  to  be  somewhat  strangely  afflicted  with  diseases  or 
torments,  or  losses,  such  as  are  described  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, we  fly  from  trusting  in  the  Son  and  power  of  God,  to 
trusting  in  a  witch,  and  believe  in  a  charm,  to  rely  upon  the 
power  of  a  beldame,  and  the  cunning  of  the  devil.     And  if 


150  Remedies  to  be  employed  in  trouble. 

SEEM,    any  thing  happen  well,  presently  it  must  be  attributed  to 
^'        that  kind  of  skill,  but  if  all  fail,  they  are  yet  ready  to  think 


they  came  rather  an  hour  too  late  than  went  a  mile  too  far ; 
and  truly  if  this  be  not  to  go  a  whoring  after  strange  gods, 
Ezek.  6.  9. 1  know  not  what  is. 

Sure  I  am  it  is  the  cunning  and  illusion  of  the  devil,  thus 
to  infatuate  and  besot  the  minds  of  gross  and  ignorant  people 
to  the  distrust  of  God,  and  to  the  destruction  of  their  souls ; 
for  give  it  that  by  his  wicked  means,  otherwhiles  ye  receive 
help,  either  for  body  or  goods,  what  comfort  shall  ye  have  in 
them,  what  good  get  ye  by  it,  to  have  your  goods  safe,  and 
your  souls  in  danger  of  eternal  perdition  and  torment  ? 

And  let  no  man  make  excuse,  that  they  think  no  hurt, 
that  they  do  it  for  no  ill,  and  that  they  would  be  glad  to 
have  help  by  any  means  they  can  procure ;  for  in  such  cases 
as  these,  be  it  hurt,  or  loss,  or  danger,  or  whatever  it  be, 
from  which  they  would  be  freed,  they  ought  ever  to  consider 
and  enquire  of  the  means,  whether  they  be  good  and  lawful, 
or  no,  to  be  used ;  whether  it  be  not  against  the  will  and 
honour  of  God,  against  the  rule  of  Christ's  religion,  against 
this  first  commandment,  against  faith  and  a  good  con- 
science, and  what  other  good  means  and  remedies  there 
be  to  help  them,  that  are  appointed  of  God  and  prescribed 
by  His  Church. 

Of  which  remedies  I  shall  give  you  the  best.  If  any  man 
Jas.  5. 13.  be  afflicted,  let  him  pray,  saith  St.  Jaines ;  let  him  give  alms, 
let  him  fast,  saith  Christ,  and  though  it  be  the  devil  that 
afflicts  him,  fasting  and  prayer  will  cast  him  out.  If  this 
means  succeeds  not,  let  him  submit  himself  under  the  mighty 
1  Pet.  5.  6.  hand  of  God,  saith  St.  Peter ;  let  him  bewail  his  own  sins, 
that  hath  justly  brought  God's  punishments  upon  him;  let 
him  come  hither  and  learn  what  God's  will  and  pleasure  is ; 
let  him  study  to  amend  his  life,  to  reform  his  wickedness,  to 
love,  to  honour,  to  trust  in  God;  and  at  last  he  shall  find 
that  these  are  the  only  remedies  he  can  use  K    For  what  great 

^  Videte,  fratres,  quia  qui  in  infirmi-  fontes  et  arbores  et  diabolica  phylac- 

tate  ad  ecclesiam  cucurrerit,  et  corporis  teria,   per  characteres   et  aruspices   et 

sanitatem  recipere  et  peccatorum  in-  divines  vel  sortilegos,  multiplicia  sibi 

dulgentiam  merebitur  obtinere.     Cum  mala  miseri  homines  conantur  inferre  ? 

ergo  duplicia  bona  possint  in  ecclesia  ....  Et  si  adhuc  videtis  aliquos  aut  ad 

inveniri,  quare  per  prsecantatores,  per  fontes,  aut  ad  arbores,  vota  reddere,  et, 


Many  popular  superstitions  a  breach  of  this  law.      151 

marvel  is  it,  if  when  men  be  blasphemers  of  God,  take  no  • 
care  of  His  service,  give  themselves  over  to  ungodliness  and 
profane  living,  to  adultery  and  fornication,  to  drunkenness 
and  excess,  to  envy  and  malice,  to  deceit  and  cunning,  to 
fierceness  and  wrath,  to  idleness  and  stealth,  to  frowardness 
and  disobedience,  (which  are  the  common  and  usual  sins  that 
run  among  ye,)  what  marvel  if  after  all  this,  besides  the 
neglect  of  God's  word,  the  abuse  of  His  Sacraments,  many 
of  you  provoke  Him  to  plague  you  in  your  corn,  and  in  your 
cattle,  in  your  bodies,  and  in  your  goods,  with  divers  dis- 
eases and  sundry  kinds  of  mischief  Therefore,  as  by  the 
abuse  of  God's  word  and  Sacraments  (when  ye  will  not  be 
reformed  and  grow  better  by  them)  the  devil  is  permitted 
sometimes  by  himself,  and  sometimes  by  his  instruments,  to 
bring  griefs  and  calamities  upon  you ;  so  by  the  good  and 
holy  use  of  them,  it  will  ever  be  the  best  way  to  rid  and 
remedy  yourselves  again.  But  for  other  fond  and  wicked 
means,  whereof  we  have  spoken,  let  it  be  accursed  for  ever, 
and  sent  back  to  hell,  from  whence  it  came. 

Now  besides  this  wicked  distrust  in  God,  and  seeking  after 
other  remedies,  there  be  other  vain  and  silly  observations 
whereby  men  also  transgress  this  first  commandment,  and 
forget  the  power  and  providence  of  Him  That  made  it. 

Those  they  be,  that  by  casting  of  fortunes,  by  chattering 
of  birds,  by  viewing  the  lines  of  the  hands,  and  other  such 
unlawful  and  superstitious  observations,  take  upon  them  to 
judge  of  men's  acts  and  lives,  and  of  other  things  to  come ; 
for  what  is  this,  saith  the  prophet  Isaiah,  but  to  make  more  is.  41.  23. 
gods  than  one ;  Annunciate  nobis  qua  ventura  sunt  in  futu- 
rum,  et  sciemus  quia  dii  estis,  '  Take  upon  you  to  tell  us  be- 
forehand, what  things  shall  come  after,  and  we  shall  say  ye 
be  gods.'     It  is  God's  office  to  do  this,  and  none  of  yours. 

And  though  it  be  common,  yet  it  is  a  common  sin  among 
the  rest  of  them  that  are  transgressors  against  this  com- 
mandment, to  be  superstitious  and  fearful,  or  distrustful  of 
God,  upon  fond  and  idle  observations,  as  at  the  crossing  of 

sicut  jam  dictum  est,  sortileges  etiam  cata  increpantes  dicite,  quia  quicunque 

et  divinos  vel  praecantatores  inquirere,  fecerit  hoc  malum  perdit  baptismi  sa- 

phylacteria  etiam  diabolica  et  cliarac-  cramentum. — S.  August.  0pp.  torn.  x. 

teres  aut  herbas  vel  succos  sibi  aut  suis  222.  edit.  Paris.  1531. 
appendere,  durissime  tanta  eorum  pec- 


152  Practical  inferences  deduced. 

SEEM,  the  hare  and  the  stumbling  at  the  threshold,  to  turn  back 
and  give  over  their  journey.  A  number  of  such  other  vani- 
ties there  are,  which  argue  men's  fear  and  distrust  in  God's 
providence,  and  therefore  their  contempt  and  breach  of  this 
law,  whatever  they  say  their  forelders  have  taught  them  to 
the  contrary.  For  they  that  trust  to  their  own  fancies,  to 
old  and  foolish  fables,  more  than  they  trust  to  God  and  His 
sayings,  sure  I  am  they  are  out  here  at  hahebis  Me,  they 
have  Him  not  as  they  should  have  Him.  I  might  now  go 
on  to  divinations  and  astrology,  but  the  stars  are  too  high 
for  your  reach.  I  will  therefore  end  this  matter  with  God's 
ver.  10-12.  own  saying  in  Deuteronomy  at  the  eighteenth  chapter.  Let 
no  man  ask  counsel  of  them  that  use  false  divinations,  or 
such  as  give  heed  to  dreams,  and  to  the  chattering  of  birds ; 
let  there  be  no  witch  among  you,  nor  any  that  asketh  coun- 
sel of  them  that  pretend  to  have  spirits ;  for  God  abhorreth 
all  these  things. 

And  if  there  be  any  among  you  that  are  given  this  way, 
God  give  them  grace  to  repent  and  amend ;  for  both  they 
that  use  it,  and  they  that  seek  after  it,  or  resort  unto  it,  will 
in  the  end  find  themselves  where  they  would  be  full  loath  to 
be  found,  even  in  the  power  of  him  upon  whose  power  they 
depended  here.  Whereas  they  that  trust  not  in  him  here, 
shall  stand  in  no  fear  of  him  hereafter ;  but  having  God  for 
their  strength,  and  relying  upon  His  will  and  providence 
alone,  according  to  this  His  precept,  shall  at  last  be  satisfied 
with  the  abundance  of  His  mercies  and  goodness  in  His 
eternal  kingdom  of  glory,  which  Christ,  the  King  of  glory, 
grant  unto  us  ;  to  Whom,  with  the  Father,  &c.  &c. 


SERMON  XL 


BRANCEPATH,   1633. 

PR^CEPTUM    QUARTUMV 

Exodus  xx.  8. 
Memento,  ut  diem  Sabbathi  sanctifices,  8fc. 

Remember  that  thou  keep  holy  the  Sabbath  day,  six  days  shall 
thou  labour  ^,  ^c. 

This  is  the  fourth  commandment ;  there  are  three  before 
it,  that  took  order  for  the  worship  of  God  Himself,  and  for 
the  honour  of  His  name ;  this  takes  order  for  the  public  form 
of  His  worship  and  the  solemnity  of  His  honour ;  that  it  be 
not  only  done,  but  done  at  a  set  time,  and  upon  the  days 
appointed  for  it,  when  nothing  else  may  be  done ;  and  done 
in  a  solemn  assembly,  and  a  full  meeting  of  the  people  to- 
gether, when  they  shall  do  it  so  much  the  better. 

It  is  a  commandment  whereupon  God  hath  bestowed  some 
cost,  urged  it  more  fully,  given  more  reasons  for  it,  spent 
more  words  upon  it,  than  upon  any  of  the  rest.  And  I  trow, 
this  is  a  sign  that  His  heart  is  set  upon  it,  that  He  will  never 
endure  the  neglect  of  it ;  and  therefore  that  whatever  we  do, 
we  should  be  sure  to  remember  and  regard  this  as  one  of  His 

'  Cosin's  opinions  upon  this  subject  by  many,  What  need  is  there  of  it  ? 

(which  at  the  time  when  he  wrote,  had  and  truly  the  less  need  the  better, 

occasioned  much  discussion)  are  further  '  But  some  need  it  that  hear  it  here 

illustrated  by  a  letter  from  him  to  Dr.  often,  and  regard  it  but  little ;   and  I 

Collins,  dated  January  24-,  1636,  which  have  heard  some  say  too,  Why  do  we 

will  be  found  in  its  proper  place.  read  so  often?  that  put  all  the  holiness 

''    On  a  leaf  before  this  sermon  oc-  of  the  day  in  hearing  of  the   sermon, 

curs  the  following  passage.    '  At  the  and  then  Tu  autem,  Domine ;  the  day 

hearing  of  which  text,  it  may  be  said  is  at  an  end.' 


154!  Division  of  the  subject. 

SEEM,  most  special  commandments;  for  which  purpose  He  begins 


XI. 


it  with  a  memento  too,  so  as  He  doth  none  of  the  other. 

Therefore  we  divide  the  commandment  into  three  parts, 
(I.)  The  precept  itself,  (II.)  The  illustration  of  the  precept, 
(III.)  And  the  reasons  annexed  and  urged  for  the  observance 
of  it. 

(I.)  The  precept  in  the  first  words,  memento  sanctifices,  &c. 
'  Remember  thou  keep  holy  the  Sabbath  day.'  (II.)  The  il- 
lustration, in  the  words  after,  non  fades  omne  opus  in  eo,  *in 
it  thou  shalt  do  no  manner  of  work;  thou,  and  thy  son,  and 
thy  daughter,'  &c.  (III.)  The  reasons,  in  all  the  rest  of  the 
words ;  one,  because  you  have  six  days  to  do  your  own 
business  in  ;  another,  because  the  seventh  is  none  of  yours, 
it  is  the  Lord's  day ;  a  third,  because  God  kept  it  holy  Him- 
self;  and  a  fourth,  because  He  hath  also  hallowed  it,  and 
appointed  it  to  be  kept  holy  by  all  others. 

In  the  precept  itself  we  have  three  things  to  consider ;  the 
memento,  the  Sabbatum,  and  the  sanctifices.  The  charge  first, 
in  the  word  *  remember.'  Then  the  charge  of  keeping  a  day 
of  rest,  on  the  Sabbath,  the  second  word ;  and  lastly,  the 
keeping  of  it  as  it  should  be,  keeping  it  holy,  *  Remember 
thou  keep  holy  the  Sabbath  day.' 

In  the  illustration  we  have  many  things  to  look  into  like- 
wise ;  and  in  the  reasons  more ;  which  I  will  not  specify  nor 
mention  now,  lest  we  lose  our  labour,  and  you  forget  all 
before  we  come  at  them. 

Of  the  precept  itself,  and  of  the  parts  of  it,  we  will  speak 
to-day;  and  that  we  may  speak  of  them  to  the  honour  of 
Almighty  God,  &c. 

THE    BIDDING    OF    THE    COMMON    PRAYERS. 

Pater  noster. 

(I.)  *  Remember  thou  keep,'  &c.  We  begin  with  the  me- 
mento, which  word,  that  the  better  notice  might  be  taken 
of  it,  is  emphatically  delivered  in  the  original,  and  doubled 
over  for  fear  it  should  be  forgotten  or  neglected  by  any. 
Recordando  recordere,  *  remember;  and  while  you  are  re- 
membering, remember  still,'  that  is,  remember  so  that  at 
no  time  it  may  slip  out  of  your  memory,  but  that  at  all  times 


Force  of  the  expression  *  Remember.*  155 

you  be  careful  and  diligent  to  keep  it ;  to  keep  it  in  mind, 
that  you  may  the  better  observe  it  in  practice. 

It  is  a  vehement  epiphonema  this,  like  that  of  our  Saviour 
in  the  Gospel,  'Let  him  that  heareth  hear;'  to  stir  up  the  Mat. ii. 
dulness  of  the  ear,  even  while  it  was  a-hearing ;  or  like  those  4,  &c.  Lu. 
frequent  repetitions  in  our  public  service  here  in  the  Church,  ^'  ^®" 
*  Let  us  pray,'  and  again  praying,  let  us  pray,  that  while  we 
are  at  it,  we  be  mindful  of  it,  (as  many  of  us  are  not,)  and  in 
doing  of  it,  we  do  it  indeed ;  this  is  recordando  recordare. 
'  A  word  and  an  item  (as  I  said)  of  all  the  Ten  Command- 
ments set  only  at  the  beginning  of  this ;  as  if  God  had  made 
His  choice.  His  special  choice  of  this  above  all  the  rest,  to 
put  His  memento  here,  which  He  would  have  them  that  have 
forgotten  it,  to  call  back  into  their  remembrance  well ;  and 
they  that  do  remember  it,  never  to  forget  it  again. 

Of  God's  choice  to  set  it  here  I  will  shew  you  some  rea- 
sons, and  then  proceed  to  that  which  follows. 

(1.)  There  is  not  in  all  the  commandments  a  duty  that 
we  are  more  hardly  brought  unto,  than  so  to  attend  God's 
service,  as  wholly  to  neglect  our  own  for  it ;  no  law  we 
grudge,  no  commandment  that  we  murmur  and  repine  at  so 
much  as  to  leave  all  our  own  occasions,  and  come  a  mile  or 
twain,  or  spend  a  whole  day  or  two  in  a  week  to  attend  His ; 
for  that  this  is  the  duty  of  this  precept,  we  will  prove  here- 
after. In  the  meanwhile,  we  are  naturally  averse  from  it, 
80  given  to  our  own  ways,  to  our  profit,  to  our  pleasures  or 
to  our  ease,  that  we  are  ever  ready  to  neglect,  always  willing 
to  forget,  what  God  would  have  us  remember  about  it.  This 
is  one  reason  that  God  hath  set  His  memento  upon  it. 

(2.)  Another  is,  for  that  this  precept  is  the  very  life  of 
all  the  Decalogue ;  by  due  observance  whereof  we  come  both 
to  learn  and  to  put  in  practice  all  the  rest  of  God's  command- 
ments the  better ;  and  without  which,  in  a  short  time,  they 
would  come  all  to  nothing.  For  therefore  is  this  time  set 
apart,  that  people,  among  other  ends,  miglit  meet  together 
to  hear  the  whole  law  of  God,  and  by  hearing  what  it  is, 
learn  to  observe  and  do  every  duty  that  belongs  unto  it. 
But  let  it  be  as  the  world  would  have  it,  sit  at  home  barely 
and  take  your  ease ;  look  to  your  own,  and  remember  God's 
aflfairs  that  list ;  hear  not  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  but 


156  Necessity  for  being  told  to  '  remember'  it. 

SEEM,  when  ye  are  at  leisure ;  listen  not  to  the  duties  of  a  Christian 

'■ —  above  once  or  twice  a  quarter,  as  the  lewd  custom  among 

a  great  many  of  you  is,  and  see  what  your  Christianity  will 
come  to,  or  what  will  become  of  all  the  duties  of  the  Law,  of 
all  the  sermons  of  the  Prophets,  and  of  all  the  service  and 
worship  of  God  in  a  short  time.  Certain  it  is,  that  through 
the  neglect  of  this,  all  the  rest  of  the  commandments  come 
to  be  neglected  too,  many  duties  of  them  not  so  much  as 
known ;  and  sure  I  am,  most  of  them  not  so  well  put  in 
practice  as  otherwise  we  might  have  hoped  they  would  be. 
Remember  this  therefore,  and  the  benefit  of  it  will  be,  that 
it  will  bring  all  the  rest  of  the  commandments  into  your 
remembrance.  So  the  memento  set  here,  which  is  the  life 
and  the  practice  of  all,  is  as  much  as  if  it  had  been  set  upon 
them  all,  upon  every  commandment  by  itself.  And  be  this 
the  second  reason. 

(3.)  Ye  shall  have  a  third,  and  so  we  will  leave  it.     There 
was  at  this  time  of  giving  the  law  throughout  the  world, 
a  more  general  neglect  of  this  commandment  than  of  all  the 
rest ;  other  things  they  remembered,  this  they  forgot,  and 
therefore  it  was  high  time  to  put  them  in  mind  of  it  with  a 
memento ;  they  found  time  for  every  thing  but  for  the  public 
and  solemn  service  of  Grod ;  every  day  of  the  week  they  took 
to  be  their  own,  this  day  and  all,  and  had  quite  obliterated, 
razed  out  of  their  hearts,  that  which  the  law  of  nature  had 
written  there  from  the  beginning;  that  some  time  of  the 
revolution,  and  a  full  sufficient  time  too,  such  as  this  is,  was 
to  be  reserved  and  set  apart  for  God  Himself,  not   to   be 
spent  in  any  other  service  than  His  own.    Which  being  now 
at  the  giving  of  the  Law  determined  to  the  seventh  day,  the 
Jews  kept  it  after  their  manner  very  strictly;   but  being 
since,  at  the  time  of  the  Gospel,  changed  to  the  first  day, 
and  that  upon  good  ground  too,  (as  afterwards  ye  shall  hear,) 
in  these  latter  days  we  observe  it  as  loosely ;  insomuch  as,  if 
ever,  it  is  full  time  now  to  renew  and  set  the  memento  upon 
it  again,  *  Remember'  that  we  keep  it  holy ;  for  by  our  doings 
we  seem,  most  of  us,  to  have  forgotten  it  full  profanely.    But 
then  to  see  what  poor  excuses  we  make  for  our  negligence, 
and  to  think  that  any  answer  will  serve  God's  turn,  this  is 
worse  than  forgetfulness,  worse  than  the  negligence  itself. 


Meaning  of  the  word  Sabbath.  157 

*  Remember'  it  therefore  to  do  it,  and  observe  it,  as  Moses 
said;  and  because  God  hath  set  His  heart  and  His  stamp 
upon  it,  so  to  have  it  observed  and  advanced ;  set  not  you 
your  foot  upon  it,  so  to  have  it  contemned  and  trodden  on. 
He  hath  committed  ten  matters  of  great  trust  unto,  you, 
these  ten  commandments,   and  all  the  duties  that  depend 

upon  them ;  and  in  keeping  of  them  there  is  great  reward.  Ps.  19.  ii. 
He  will  recompense  you  largely  for  your  pains;  but  above 
all  the  ten,  there  is  one  among  the  rest,  this  one,  which 
with  a  memento  doubled  over.  He  recommends  to'  your  spe- 
cial regard  and  to  your  principal  care.  In  anywise  therefore 
forget  not,  neglect  not,  but  remember  that.  And  this  for 
the  memento. 

II.    Follows  what  we  are  to  remember,  Biem  Sabbathi, 

*  Remember  to  keep  the  Sabbath  day,'  And  a  Sabbath  day 
is  nothing  else  in  signification,  but  a  day  of  rest;  always 
provided  (as  ye  shall  hereafter)  that  it  be  no  idle  rest,  but 
a  rest  from  common  affairs,  that  holy  and  sacred  actions 
may  be  the  better  attended. 

In  this  sense  every  festival,  lawfully  appointed,  and  made 
sacred,  is  a  Sabbath ;  and  by  the  moral  virtue  of  this  precept, 
even  from  this  very  word  Sabbathum,  we  are  bound  to  keep 
them  every  one.  So  were  the  Jews,  all  the  rest  of  their 
feasts  (which  were  called  Sabbaths  too '') ;  besides  their  dies 
Septimus,  the  day  that  is  hereafter  mentioned.  And  there- 
fore he  that  translated  these  words,  memento  diem  Sabbathi 
sanctifices,  Remember  thou  keep  holy  the  feast  days,  that  is, 
every  Sabbath  or  every  feast  day  when  it  comes,  was  not  so 
far  out  of  the  way,  nor  so  wide  from  the  true  moral  meaning 
of  this  commandment,  (take  it  in  the  very  letter,)  as  some 
men,  prima  facie,  took  him  to  have  been.  St.  Gregory  Nazi- 
anzen  and  St.  Ambrose  may  be  as  well  found  fault  with 
withal,  as  he  who  hath  expressed  the  commandment  in  the 
plural  number,  ad^^ara  vavra  ^vkare'^,  &c.    For  if  ye  mark 

'  Oi  'lov^oiiovKaaav  topr^v  ffdfifiarop  Koi  ffKidfi/Ta.  Greg.  Naz.  in  Decalogo, 

i)v6na^ov,  avd-Kavcris  yap  rh  aa^fiarov.  poem.  xxxv.     Nee   sine  mysterlo   hoc 

Theoph.   in   cap.  6.    S.  Lucae,    p.  341.  ab   Evangelista  secundum  Matthseum 

Additional  examples  are  collected   by  at  Marcum  pure  posita  puto ;  quoniam 

Suicer,  under  Sa/S/SoTov,  I.  ii.  b,  and  sabbata  perpetuae  ferise  sunt  resurrec- 

Heylyn's  History  of  the  Sabbath,  part  tionis  aeternae. — S.  Ambros.  in  Evang. 

i.  chap.  5.  §  2.  p.  87.  edit.  1636.  S.  Lucae,  Opp.  i.  1363.  edit.  Bened. 

^  ia$$aTa  Ttivra  (fuAoacre  fjLtrapffia 


158  What  the  Sabbath  was  to  the  Jews 

SEEM,  it  here,  the  word  is  put  abstractly  and  at  large,  diem  Sab- 
bathi,  not  concretely  and  determinately,  diem  septimum,  ap- 


plicable therefore  to  any  feast  day  or  holy  day  whatsoever,  as 
well  as  to  it ;  though  afterwards  attributed  more  eminently 
to  the  seventh  day  among  the  Jews,  which  is  here  beneath 
ver.  10.  called  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord,  and  to  the  first  day  among 
the  Christians,  which  we  call  dies  Dominicus  too,  the  feast 
day  of  the  Lord,  the  day  of  Christ's  resurrection;  to  these 
(I  say)  more  eminently,  though  not  only  to  these,  for  there 
are  more  Sabbaths,  more  feast  days  than  one. 

And  from  hence  we  fetch  the  morality  of  this  precept,  that 
which  the  law  of  nature  taught  every  man,  even  from  the 
word  Sabbathum,  that  there  are  days  of  rest  and  sanctity  to 
be  kept  holy  to  the  Lord,  and  that  unto  what  day  soever  the 
Sabbathum  is  applied,  upon  any  day  that  a  holy  rest  is  law- 
fully instituted  and  appointed,  that  day,  so  far  as  the  institu- 
tion goes,  and  so  long  as  the  appointment  lasts,  is  to  be  kept 
sacred  and  holy  to  God.  So  the  Jews  were  to  keep  their 
Sabbaths,  and  we  our  festivals,  every  one  according  to  the 
laws  and  institutions  that  were  made  for  them  by  God  and 
the  Church. 

For  as  for  the  dies  Septimus  here,  the  seventh  day,  where- 
unto  the  name  of  the  Sabbath  was  afterwards  given  by  way 
of  eminence,  we  have  nothing  now  to  do  with  it,  it  expired 
with  the  Jews'  synagogue ;  and  qua  talis  (as  we  say)  it  be- 
longed not  to  the  moral  law  at  all;  but  this  did,  that  being 
then  appointed  for  a  Sabbath,  as  long  as  the  appointment 
lasted,  it  was  so  to  be  kept ;  otherwise  if  the  very  particular 
seventh  day  had  been  moral  in  itself,  that  is,  founded  in  the 
law  of  nature,  it  could  never  have  been  altered,  but  we  should 
have  been  bound  to  have  kept  the  Sabbath  of  the  Jews  still, 
we  should  have  committed  a  deadly  sin  if  we  had  not  kept 
every  Saturday  holy  day  during  our  lives. 

But  that  this  was  no  part  of  the  eternal  moral  law, 
and  therefore  alterable  by  the  Church,  we  have  the  will  of 
God  Himself  (besides  other  testimonies)  declared  unto  us  by 
Col.  2. 16,  His  holy  Apostle,  *  Let  no  man  condemn  you  in  respect  of 
a  Sabbath  day  or  a  new  moon,  which  are  but  shadows  of 
things  to  come,  but  the  body  is  Christ.'  Yet  for  all  this, 
when  time  was,  the  morality  of  this  precept  went  along  with 


the  festivals  of  the  Church  are  to  us.  159 

their  Sabbaths  and  festivals,  as  it  doth  now  with  ours,  with 
neither  of  them  as  the  seventh  day,  or  the  first,  but  with 
both  as  set  and  solemn  times  exalted  by  God  and  dedicated 
to  His  service;  so  that  not  to  have  kept  the  Sabbaths  then, 
had  been  sin  to  the  Jews,  and  not  to  keep  our  festivals  now 
will  be  sin  to  us.  The  one  must  be  kept  as  well  as  the 
other ;  I  say  '  as  well,'  for  the  substance,  though  not  alike 
for  the  manner  and  circumstance ;  for  the  Jews  had  their 
ceremonies,  and  the  Christians  have  theirs,  either  peculiar 
to  themselves,  wherewith  to  keep  their  Sabbaths  and  holy 
days ;  as  after  we  shall  shew  you. 

Remember  then  that  you  keep  the  festivals  appointed, 
is  a  good  paraphrase  upon  this  text,  neither  can  I  give 
you  a  better ;  for  the  Jews'  Sabbaths  are  all  gone,  gone 
like  shadows ;  and  in  sign  that  they  are  gone  indeed,  the 
very  name  of  a  Sabbath  in  regard  of  our  festivals  is  gone 
away  with  them  too ;  for  ye  shall  not  read  in  all  the  ancient 
writers  for  1500  years  together,  that  ever  any  Christians 
would  use  that  name,  (though  in  a  few  late  writers,  I  know 
not  why,  it  be  again  taken  up  • ;)  but  in  place  of  their  Sab- 
baths, the  Apostles  and  their  successors  have  instituted 
Christian  festivals,  of  which  the  Lord's  day  is  the  chief,  suc- 
ceeding in  the  room  of  that  which  was  also  more  eminently 
styled  the  Jewish  Sabbath. 

By  this  time  then  ye  know  what  ye  are  to  remember,  and 
what  to  understand,  by  the  Sabbath  day. 

III.  Follows  the  end  of  remembering  it,  memento  ut  sanc- 
ti/ices,  remember  it  to  keep  it  holy.  And  then  we  only  keep 
it  holy  when  we  apply  it  unto  holy  uses. 

For  ye  must  know  that  God  hath  dealt  with  this  day,  and 
other  days  made  holy,  as  He  hath  done  with  men  and  other 
creatures ;  sanctifying  some  of  them,  and  destinating  them 
to  a  more  reserved  and  higher  use  than  that  which  is  com^ 
mon.  By  nature  all  men  are  alike,  so  are  all  days;  but  yet 
for  all  that  *,  there  be  some  men  separated  from  the  vulgar 
sort  and  exalted  above  the  rest,  as  magistrates  and  kings  are. 


•  Bingh.  XX.  ii.  §  1,  and  especially  are  fully  exhibited. 

Heylyn  on  the  Sabbath,  part  ii.  chap.  '  The  remainder  of  this  paragraph 

8.  §  7,  8,  9,  10,  where  the  revival  and  is  repeated  in  the  next  sermon, 
progress   of  these    Sabbatarian    errors 


160  Illustrations  of  the  holiness  of  these  seasons. 

SEEM,  as  priests  and  ministers  of  God  are ;  we  must  not  use  them  at 
our  pleasure,  as  we  would  use  one  of  our  own  servants.     It 


is  alike  with  these  days,  which  above  all  other  days  are  made 
holy  to  God;  the  rest  are  like  our  own  servants,  we  may 
employ  them  about  our  own  affairs ;  but  these  holy  days  we 
may  not  be  so  bold  with,  they  are  set  apart  for  holy  uses,  for 
God's  service,  they  are  none  of  ours,  nor  may  they  be  em- 
ployed about  our  own  business.     Take  another  resemblance 

'  that  it  may  affect  you  the  better.    The  water  in  baptism,  the 

bread  and  wine  in  the  blessed  sacrament,  naturally  they 
are  no  more  than  other  such  elements  are,  but  being  conse- 
crate and  set  apart  once  to  these  holy  uses,  for  which  Christ 
hath  ordained  and  appointed  them,  quis  eum  non  lapidibus 
obrueret,  saith  St.  Chrysostora,  what  punishment  should  not 
he  deserve,  that  would  usurp  them  to  common  uses  and 
profane  them  at  his  pleasure  ?  As  the  water  in  baptism,  as 
the  bread  and  wine  in  the  Eucharist,  so  is  this  day  consecrate 
and  set  apart  by  the  Church  for  holy  and  divine  uses. 

And  what  God  hath  made  holy  let  no  man  make  common, 
by  applying  or  spending  that  time  at  his  pleasure  which  God 
hath  consecrated  and  dedicated  and  marked  out  for  His 
service.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  every  thing  which  is  hallowed, 
not  to  be  used  as  other  common  things  are,  (Levit.  27.  [28, 
29.],)  every  thing  separate  from  the  common  use  must  be 

Ex.  27.  3.  holy  to  the  Lord ;  not  so  much  but  the  very  fire-forks  and 
the  flesh-hooks,  the  meanest  instruments  that  belonged  unto 
the  sacrifice,  but  they  were  forbidden  to  be  put  to  any  other 

Ex.  37,  23.  use ;  the  very  snuffers  of  the  temple  not  to  touch  another 
lamp,  nothing  that  is  sanctified  to  be  profaned,  that  is,  to  be 
used  as  other  common  things  are.  Then  this  day  (and  none 
so  highly  exalted^  by  God,  so  extraordinarily  blest  and  hal- 
lowed above  others)  in  nowise  to  be  accounted  as  others 
are,  but  to  make  account  of  what  days  soever  be  ours,  besides 
these  that  are  dedicated  and  made  holy,  are  none  of  ours,  are 
none  of  ours  no  more  than  this  temple  is  ours,  are  days  with 
God's  mark  upon  them,  must  be  therefore,  as  this  place  is, 
accounted  and  kept  holy.  And  take  it  for  your  rule,  ye  may 
as  well  profane  and  use  this  house  of  God  at  your  pleasure — 
make  it  your  workshop,  make  it  your  barn — as  ye  may  take 
the  liberty  which  ye  do  to  profane  and  use  at  your  pleasure, 


God  must  be  worshipped  in  public.  161 

these  holy  days  of  God  ;  the  sius  are  both  of  one  nature,  and 
therefore  hath  God  also  joined  the  duties  together,  ye  shall 
reverence  My  sanctuary,  and  observe  My  Sabbaths.  Lev.  19. 

This  to  persuade  you  that  these  holy  days  are  to  be,  and 
must  of  force  be  kept  holy,  unless  ye  v?ill  commit  sacrilege, 
and  steal  from  God  that  Mhich  is  His  own.  Now  then  to 
learn  you  how  they  are  to  be  kept  holy,  is  the  next  point ; 
and  all  we  shall  speak  unto  to-day. 

The  keeping  of  these  days  holy  in  manner  as  we  ought, 
respects  both  our  public  and  our  private  duties. 

The  public  first,  enjoined  and  commanded  under  the  name 
of  convocatio  sancta,  in  the  twenty-third  chapter  of  Leviticus 
and  third  verse  :  'But  in  the  day  of  rest'  (that  is,  as  is  there 
expressed,  upon  every  festival)  '  shall  be  an  holy  convocation 
to  the  Lord;'  that  is,  a  meeting  and  a  gathering  together  of 
all  the  people  in  the  public  place  of  God's  worship,  which  is 
the  church,  there  to  do  Him  open  homage  and  service,  and 
(as  we  tell  you  here,  before  we  begin  the  service)  *  to  render 
thanks  for  the  great  benefits  we  have  received  at  His  hands, 
to  set  forth  His  most  worthy  praise,  to  hear  His  most  holy 
word,  and  to  ask  those  things  that  are  requisite  and  neces- 
sary, as  well  for  the  body  as  the  soul.'  This  is  the  public  duty 
of  every  day  that  is  made  holy. 

For  a  private  holiness  at  home  will  not  serve,  will  not 
satisfy  this  commandment  of  God.  It  is  a  day  we  are  to  keep 
holy ;  let  it  be  kept  then  as  a  day,  in  open  view  of  heaven 
and  earth ;  that,  as  by  day-light,  our  holiness  may  be  seen 
abroad,  and  let  it  not  be  kept  as  a  night,  shut  up  in  our 
own  houses  at  home,  where  nobody  can  see  what  our  holiness 
is.  The  voice  of  joy  and  thanksgiving  is  in  the  dwellings  of 
the  righteous,  saith  the  prophet  David  in  the  hundred  and  ver.  16. 
eighteenth  Psalm,  when  he  spake  and  prophesied  of  this  very 
day.  And  in  the  dwellings  at  home  (if  it  be  there)  truly  it 
does  well,  but  I  fear  in  many  homes  there  is  no  such  holi- 
ness; but  say  there  were,  let  us  believe  them,  that  they  serve 
God  at  home  (as  they  say)  when  they  are  not  here,  yet  that 
home-serving  would  not  serve  the  prophet's  turn,  not  the 
service  that  was  done  in  the  very  dwellings  of  the  righteous; 
therefore  at  the  nineteenth  verse  he  goes  further,  Aperite 
mihi  port  as, '  Open  me,'  saith  he,  'the  gates  of  righteousness,* 

COSIN.  ]^ 


162  Public  worship  enjoined  by  God. 

SEEM,   that  is,  the  church  doors,  his  own  house,  as  holy  as  it  was, 
'■ —  would  not  hold  him,  but  open  the  doors  of  the  tabernacle  of 

Ps  22  25'  .  .  . 

85.  I8,<fec!  the  temple,  thither  will  I  go  in,  and  shew  in  the  congrega- 
tion, in  the  great  congregation  will  I  praise  and  give  thanks 
unto  the  Lord.  A  congregation,  I  say,  and  a  great  one,  not 
when  half  the  church  is  empty,  but  so  great  that  it  may 
constituere  diem  solennem  in  condensis  usque  ad  cornua  Altaris, 

Ps.  118.  27.  as  in  the  Psalm  he  goes  on,  that  the  people  may  stand  so 
thick  in  the  church,  as  to  fill  it  up  from  the  entrance  of  the 
door  to  the  very  edge  of  the  Altar ;  that  is,  from  the  very 
lowest  to  the  very  highest  place  of  the  church.  This  is  that 
which  God  enjoins,  convocatio  sancta. 

For  this  same  home-holiness  that  is  neither  seen  nor 
heard,  surely  there  is  some  leaven  of  malignity  in  it;  and 
He  can  no  skill  of  it,  likes  it  not,  will  therefore  have  it  come 
forth,  seen  in  the  countenance,  expressed  in  the  view,  heard 
in  the  voice,  and  not  in  the  voice  of  the  pulpit  only,  to 
come  and  hear  a  sermon  preached,  but  in  the  voice  of  the 
choir  too,  of  the  whole  congregation  together,  to  come  and 
with  one  heart  and  one  mouth  to  set  forth  His  most  worthy 
praise. 

They  shall  bring  a  sacrifice  of  praise  into  the  house  of  the 
Lord,  saith  Jeremy,  the  seventeenth  chapter  and  the  twenty- 
sixth  [verse],  speaking  of  this  very  thing;  and  if  they  will  not, 
says  he,  then  will  the  Lord  kindle  a  fire  among  the  people, 
and  it  shall  devour  the  palaces  of  Jerusalem,  and  it  shall  not 

Mai.  2.  3.  be  quenched;  or,  as  another  of  His  prophets,  projiciet  stercus 
solemnitatum  vestrarum  in  fades  vestras,  He  cares  not  for  our 
own  private  keeping  of  His  solemn  feasts.  He  will  throw  the 
dirt  of  them  in  our  faces.  Can  ye  offer  your  sacrifice  at 
home,  in  what  place  you  shall  choose?  but  ye  shall  not  do 
it,  saith  God  Himself  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Deuteronomy 
and  the  eighth  verse ;  what  shall  they  do  then  ?  at  the  fifth 
[verse]  ye  shall  seek  and  go  to  the  place  which  the  Lord  hath 
chosen,  to  put  His  name  there,  and  thither  shall  ye  bring 
your  service,  and  ye  shall  rejoice  before  the  Lord  your  God, 
ye,  and  your  sons,  and  your  daughters,  and  your  servants, 
and  there  shall  the  Lord  bless  you.  This  is  a  plain  place, 
applied  by  an  ancient  and  a  holy  council,  the  council  of 
Gangres,  which  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  an  universal 


Benefits  resulting  from  it.  163 

council,  to  the  keeping  of  the  Lord's  day  and  other  festivals 
among  the  Christians;  and  therefore  they  made  a  law 
against  them  that  presumed  of  their  own  heads  to  keep  it 
otherwise.  The  law  is  worth  the  repeating.  JDomos  Dei 
honoramus,  et  conventus,  qui  in  his  fiunt,  tanquam  sanctos  et 
utiles  suscipimus,  pietatem  in  privatis  domibus  non  claudenteSy 
sed  omnem  locum  in  nomine  Dei  eedificatum  honoramus,  et  con- 
gregationem  sanctam  in  eadem  ecclesia  {^factam"]  pro  utilitate 
communi  recipimus^.  'We  honour  the  house  of  God,  and  the 
holy  assembly  there  gathered  in  His  name.  We  shut  not  up 
our  holiness  in  our  own  houses,  but  we  bring  it  forth  into 
the  place  that  the  Lord  hath  chosen  to  let  His  name  dwell 
there.*  And  in  the  end  they  doubt  not  to  lay  an  anathema, 
a  grievous  censure,  upon  any  that  being  able  to  come  forth 
shall  neglect  the  church  and  keep  his  own  house  that  day, 
though  he  thinks  himself  never  so  well  employed.  And  ye 
shall  see  the  reason  of  this  public  assembling  together,  to  set 
forth  the  service  of  God. 

(L)  God  shall  have  the  more  honour  by  it,  more  by  a  full 
congregation  than  by  a  few.  The  honour  of  a  king  is  in  the 
multitude  of  his  subjects ;  when  half  the  church  is  empty,  as 
much  as  in  us  lays  we  rob  God  of  half  His  honour;  but  if 
He  be  not  duly  honoured  by  any  of  us  here,  He  will  never  be 
beholden  to  us  for  His  honour ;  for  whether  we  will  or  no, 
He  will  be  honoured  by  us  another  way ;  either  here,  in  our 
willing  service;  or  elsewhere,  in  our  unwilling  punishment 
for  neglect  of  that  service ;  one  of  the  two  be  we  sure,  and 
choose  we  whether. 

(2.)  It  makes  more  for  the  good  of  the  Church;  the 
prayers  are  the  stronger  for  it,  they  are  carried  up  the 
higher,  they  pierce  the  clouds  when  they  are  sent  up  with 
a  full  cry  of  all  the  people  together ;  whereas  they  languish, 
like  the  congregation  itself,  when  they  want  half  their  com- 
pany to  help  them. 

(3.)  Every  private  Christian  is  the  better  for  it ;  he  does 


8  The   Latin  version  here  followed  jBfiav  iv  rois  oIkois,  i.X\i,  irivra  rStrov 

is    that   of  Dionysius   Exiguus.     The  rhv  iir'  6v6fiaTi  tov  &tov  oiKoSofjLrjBfvTa 

original    text  is  this  ....  roi/s   oIkovs  rifxwvrfs,  koI  t^v  iv  ainy  rrj  iKK\r\ai<f 

TOV  Qiov  rifiufify,  koL  tos  <tvi'6Sovs  rhi  rov  0«oO  (rw6Sof  Koivrjv,  fis  utp^Kfiav 

iit'  avro7s,  dij  aylas  kuI  ^va^cAfTs  oiro-  rov  koivov,  avod(x6fi(da,  ....  can.  xxi. 

ScXt^jucOOf  ob  avyK\tlovrts  tV  c{i<r^-  Labb.  Cone.  ii.  424. 

M  2 


164  Men  prolific  in  excuses 

SEEM,  his  service  with  more  cheerfulness  when  he  has  all  his  com- 

XI 

'• —  panions  and  fellow-servants  to  join  with  him  in  it;  the  worse 

a  great  deal  if  he  wants  them ;  dull  and  heavy  at  his  work, 
ever  ready  to  sleep,  besides  the  evil  example  that  he  takes 
to  be  as  negligent  as  he  sees  others  be,  and  otherwhiles  also 
to  take  the  same  liberty,  and  tarry  away  himself;  which  toy 
takes  a  many,  I  fear  it  will  take  them  all  together  at  once, 
one  time  or  other,  (as  many  holy  days  it  does,)  and  so  we 
shall  have  a  goodly  solemnity  to  celebrate  God's  festivals. 
Though  truly  to  the  infirm  there  must  be  some  indulgence ; 
but  we  are  somewhat  afraid  for  all  that  to  open  this  door;  for 
as  soon  as  we  do  but  open  it  for  the  infirm  and  weak,  when 
they  are  out,  there  comes  such  a  press  of  people  after  them 
that  we  know  not  how  to  get  it  shut  again ;  for  then  we  are 
all  weak,  all  ill,  and  so  all  run  through.  The  truth  is,  all 
are  ill  disposed,  or  else  they  would  never  make  such  poor 
pretences  as  they  usually  do.  The  rawness  of  the  weather, 
the  hardness  of  the  way,  the  length  of  the  journey,  the  least 
indisposition  of  the  body,  are  with  most  of  you  now  thought 
to  be  reasons  sufiicient  enough  to  afl'ront  this  law  and  com- 
mandment of  God;  and  yet  your  own  affairs,  your  own 
pleasures  and  customs,  they  shall  not  afl'ront.  The  day  be- 
fore was  a  day  for  your  market ;  perhaps  the  weather  worse, 
the  journey  longer,  yet  that  you  could  bear.  This  day  is 
a  market  for  your  souls,  and  this  place,  hither  you  cannot 
come,  could  not,  no  by  no  means ;  you  had  endangered  your 
health,  and  yet  you  would  venture  it  for  a  less  matter  by  far. 
So  comes  God's  church,  His  market-place,  to  be  the  emptiest 
always  of  the  two,  to  the  shame  of  your  pretended  religion. 
Indeed  he  said  well,  if  the  people  will  not  come,  satis  unus, 
satis  nullus,  let  the  priest  serve  God  by  himself,  rather 
than  God  should  have  no  service  done  Him  at  all;  the 
brooks  must  run  on  in  their  channels  whether  the  beasts  will 
come  and  drink  of  them  or  no;  and  God  must  have  His 
honour  done  Him,  whether  the  people  be  pleased  to  assist  at 
it  or  not.  *  Well  if  one,'  says  the  heathen  man ;  but  better 
a  great  deal  if  many,  if  all  the  people  come  together. 

(1.)  Better  for  the  reasons  we  have  given  already,  and  for 
these  besides.  In  regard  of  the  Church's  uniformity,  that 
they  may  all  be  known  to  be  of  one  and  the  same  mind,  of 


for  absenting  themselves  from  church.  165 

one  and  the  same  religion,  that  they  keep  one  profession  of 
their  faith;  and  therefore  it  is  said  of  the  very  first  Christians 
of  all,  as  a  true  note  of  their  holiness  and  religion,  that  they 
were  all  together  with  one  accord  in  one  place.  Acts  2.  l. 

(2.)  Then  in  regard  of  the  commonwealth,  whose  blessing 
it  is  when  God  maketh  men  to  be  of  one  mind  in  this  house; 
whose  strength  and  stay  it  is,  when  God  is  duly  honoured, 
as  well  as  when  the  king  is  duly  served  and  obeyed  by  all 
the  people  together. 

(3.)  And  lastly,  in  regard  of  each  private  man ;  that  here, 
hence,  as  from  a  store-house,  he  may  fetch  food  for  his  soul, 
from  the  nundince  sacra  he  may  fetch  commeatum  animee,  give 
praise  and  honour  and  obedience  unto  God,  Who,  in  ex- 
change will  give  him  knowledge  to  enlighten  his  under- 
standing, and  grace  to  reform  his  will,  and  assistance  in 
plenty  to  resist  the  temptations  of  this  wicked  world.  "Which 
He  grant  unto  us  for  His  mercy's  sake,  for  I  cannot  now,  the 
time  will  not  suffer  me,  to  go  any  further.    To  God,  &c.,  &c. 


SEEM  ON   XII. 


xn. 


Exodus  xx.  9,  10. 

Sex  dies  operabis  et  fades  omnia  opera  tua. 
Septimo  autem  die  Sabbatum  Domini  Dei  tui  est ;  non  fades 
omne  opus  in  eo. 

Six  days  shalt  thou  labour  and  do  all  that  thou  hast  to  do. 
But  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God ;  in 
it  thou  shalt  do  no  manner  of  work. 

S  E  E  M.  In  the  words  before  we  had  the  precept  itself,  where  we 
had  three  things  to  consider;  the  memento,  the  sabbathum, 
and  the  sanctifices ;  the  charge  first,  in  the  word '  remember ;' 
then  the  charge  of  keeping  that  day  of  rest,  in  the  word 
*  sabbath,'  under  which  were  comprehended  all  other  days 
solemnly  set  apart  and  appointed  for  God's  service ;  and  lastly, 
the  charge  of  keeping  both  it  and  them  as  they  should  be 
kept,  in  the  word  *  holy.'  *  Remember  that  thou  keep  holy 
the  Sabbath  day.'     And  so  far  are  we  gone. 

In  these  words  that  follow  we  have  both  the  illustration  of 
the  precept,  and  the  reasons  that  are  given  for  the  due 
observance  of  it.  The  illustration,  in  non  fades  omne  opus  in 
eo,  tu  et  filius  tuus,  ^c.  *In  it  thou  shalt  do  no  manner  of 
work,  thou,  and  thy  son,  and  thy  daughter,'  &c. ;  the  reasons, 
in  sex  diebus  operaberis,  because  you  have  six  days  for  your- 
selves ;  and  in  septimo  die  sabbathum  Domini,  because  the 
seventh  is  none  of  yours,  but  a  day  hallowed  and  set  apart 
for  the  public  and  solemn  service  of  God  ;  therefore  so  to  be 
kept  by  you,  and  not  to  be  spent  upon  your  own  affairs. 

More  strictly  we  have  in  these  words  a  double  permission, 
and  a  double  opposition.     The  double  permission,  (1.)  'six 


Division  of  the  subject.  167 

days  shalt  thou  labour/  (3.)  in  them  thou  shalt  do  all  thy 
work;  and  the  double  opposition,  (1.)  'the  seventh  day  is 
the  Lord's,'  (2.)  *  in  it  thou  shalt  do  no  work/ 

Both  which  how  they  are  to  be  understood,  we  shall  by 
and  by  enquire ;  if  first,  I  have  put  you  in  mind  to  call  with 
me  upon  God  the  Father,  &c. 

THE    BIDDING   OP    THE    COMMON    PRAYERS. 

Pafer  Noster,  ^c, 

'  Six  days  shalt  thou  labour  and  do  all  that  thou  hast  to 
do,'  which  words  are  put  here  permissive,  by  way  of  indul- 
gence and  permission,  to  shew  the  great  equity  of  the  pre- 
cept, that  men  being  so  liberally  dealt  withal,  and  suffered 
to  have  six  days  at  home  to  themselves,  they  might  have  no 
excuse  if  they  did  not  willingly  and  cheerfully  come  forth  to 
serve  God  upon  the  seventh. 

For  if  God  would  have  used  His  own  absolute  authority 
and  dominion  over  us.  He  might  have  set  us,  and  justly  re- 
quired it  of  us,  to  serve  Him  all  the  seven  days  together,  left 
us  never  a  day  for  ourselves;  or  He  might  have  taken  to 
Himself  six  days  of  the  week,  and  given  us  but  one.  And 
who  could  have  said  Cur  ita  fads  ? 

This  out  of  His  sovereignty  and  greatness  He  might  have 
done,  and  we  could  have  found  no  fault  with  it  neither ;  but 
since  that  out  of  His  bounty  and  goodness  He  would  not  do 
it,  what  excuse  can  we  find,  or  what  strange  injustice  and 
wretched  unthankfulness  will  it  be  in  us,  if,  after  so  many 
days  afforded  us,  we  grudge  to  let  Him  have  the  seventh, 
that  one  day  that  He  hath  reserved  to  Himself ! 

It  is  here  as  it  is  with  your  tithes ;  nine  parts  have  to 
yourselves,  the  tenth  is  God's  own.  Indeed  all  was  His,  to 
have  disposed  of  as  He  pleased,  but  this  was  His  bounty  to 
give  you  nine  times  as  much  as  Himself;  and  he  is  either  a 
wretch^,  or  somewhat  worse,  that  will  grudge  or  defraud  God  i  a  niggard 
of  one  in  ten,  deserves  to  have  the  nine  taken  away,  and  but 
the  tenth  left.  Or  it  is  as  it  was  with  Adam  in  Paradise,  to 
whom  God  gave  to  eat  of  all  the  trees  in  the  garden  save  one.  Gen.  2. 16. 
kept  but  one  from  him  among  them  all ;  whereas  God  might 
have  kept  all  the  rest  to  Himself,  and  given  him  but  one, 


168  Men  tempted  to  spoil  God  of  His  own. 

SEEM,  but  this  was  His  bounty ;  in  that  to  Adam,  in  this  to  us, 

'- —  reserves  only  one  in  ten  in  our  tithes,  one  of  seven  in  our 

time,  to  be  bestowed  upon  His  service. 

Now  in  either  of  these  if  we  afford  Him  not  His  own,  it  is 
turned  with  us  from  Adam's  case  to  the  devil's,  who  is  ever 
and  anon  suggesting  to  us,  as  he  did  to  him,  that  we  should 
Gen.  3. 4.  make  no  scruple  of  it,  but  take  all  to  ourselves,  go  and  eat 
of  the  forbidden  tree  and  all ;  for  believe  it,  God's  portion, 
be  it  in  His  tithes,  or  be  it  in  His  times,  both  beiug  holy  to 
Him,  they  are  as  the  forbidden  tree  in  God's  garden,  men 
are  not  to  meddle  with  them,  nor  convert  them  to  their  own 
uses ;  if  they  do,  though  the  fruit  be  never  so  fair  to  look  on 
at  first,  it  will  either  choke  them  or  poison  them  in  the  end. 
And  though  it  be  their  own  wives  that  came  and  persuaded 
them  to  it,  (as  such  wives  there  be  left  still  in  the  world,) 
yet  let  them  assure  themselves,  they  will  find  at  last,  (as 
Adam  did  at  first,)  it  was  but  the  very  devil  himself  in  their 
wives'  likeness. 

Let  the  tithes  go,  and  apply  it  to  this  precept,  to  these 
words  we  have  in  hand.  A  man  has  had  six  days  in  the 
week  to  himself,  for  his  labour,  for  his  profit,  for  his  pleasure, 
for  any  of  his  own  affairs.  The  seventh  comes,  the  holy  day 
comes,  dies  quern  fecit  Dominus,  the  day  that  the  Lord  hath 
made  for  Himself,  the  Lord's  day  comes;  and  then  comes  me 
the  devil  in  the  likeness  of  a  rainy  day,  or  in  the  shape  of  cold 
weather,  or  in  the  likeness  of  some  business  or  other  that  is 
to  be  done,  and  tells  him  that  God  must  let  him  have  that 
day  also,  as  well  as  the  other  six,  or  else  all  will  go  wrong 
with  him.  And  what  if  it  be  forbidden  by  God's  law?  ye 
shall  have  one  devil  meet  with  him  and  say,  '  Come,  it  is  for 
your  own  advantage,  you  are  a  free-born  man,  and  the  law 
does  but  scare  you.  Take  time  while  we  have  it ;  you  may 
do  what  you  list.^  And  what  if  it  be  forbidden  by  the 
Church  ?  Ye  shall  have  another  devil  stand  by  and  tell  him, 
'What  need  have  care  for  the  Church?  let  the  Church  care 
for  itself,  it  will  have  but  one  the  less  for  thee ;  and  for  this 
time  she  shall  pardon  us.' 

Thus  we  dispossess  God  of  His  right,  and  thrust  Him  from 
His  freehold,  while  we  have  any  list  to  take  a  freedom  to 
ourselves.     But  believe  it,  this  day  of  the  Lord's  is  a  day 


Popular  arguments  against  holy  days.  169 

hallowed  and  set  apart  from  the  other  days ;  is  a  day  for- 
bidden us  to  use,  or  meddle  withal,  or  spend  any  otherwise 
than  He  hath  appointed.  Therefore  believe  it  also,  that  the 
best  advice  is,  when  any  such  suggestion  comes,  (come  it  by 
whom  it  will  come,  by  Eve  or  the  devil,)  to  give  it  that 
answer  that  Joseph  gave  to  Potiphar's  wife,  '  Behold,  all  that  Gen.  39. 
is  within  the  house,  he  hath  left  in  my  power,  only  thee  ' 
excepted,  and  how  then  should  I  injure  him  in  this  one?*  In 
like  manner  six  days  hath  God  given  us  to  ourselves,  reserved 
but  one  for  some  public  and  solemn  honour  and  worship  to 
be  done  Him  every  week,  and  how  then  should  we  deceive 
Him  in  this  one,  seeing  by  His  goodness  and  liberality  all 
the  rest  are  ours  ?  This  were  a  good  answer,  and  it  is  but 
just  and  meet  it  should  be  so  ;  for  you  see  the  great  equity 
of  the  precept,  and  the  great  indulgence  shewed  to  us  in  it, 
that  of  seven  parts  of  our  time,  we  have  six  for  our  own 
occasions.  We  will  conclude  therefore  with  one  of  the 
Hebrew  doctors  upon  this  text,  cum  omnibus  diehus  septi- 
manee  homo  sese  occupei  in  negotiis  suis  necessariis,  hoc  die 
maxime  consentaneum  est,  ut  se  segreget  ac  quiescet  propter 
Dei  gloriam,  *  It  is  most  fit  we  should  give  God  this  day  of 
the  week  for  His  service  only,  when  we  have  all  the  rest 
for  our  own  necessary  affairs.' 

*  Six  days  shalt  thou  labour,  but  the  seventh  day.'  Nay, 
but  now  I  think  on  it,  before  we  can  come  to  that  day  there 
comes  one  that  bids  us  make  a  stay  yet  at  these  six,  one  and 
a  thousand  too,  nos  numeri  sumus,  a  great  company  of  them,  Mark  5.  9. 
as  they  said  of  themselves,  that  put  the  question  home  to  us 
and  demand  of  us  full  stoutly,  what  authority  the  Church 
hath  to  make  any  of  these  six  days  a  holy  day,  or  to  restrain 
men  from  the  liberty  which  God  hath  here  given  them,  of 
bestowing  six  whole  days  of  the  week  in  labour,  if  they  will  ? 

It  is  not,  they  say,  in  the  power  of  the  Church  to  command 
any  days  to  be  kept  holy,  wherein  men  shall  be  required  to 
cease  from  their  common  and  daily  vocations.  And  for  proof 
hereof,  they  desire  to  take  this  fourth  commandment,  and  no 
other  interpretation  of  it  than  that  which  we  have  allowed  of 
ourselves;  which  is,  that  God  licenseth  and  leaveth  it  at  the 
liberty  of  every  man  to  work  six  days  in  the  week,  so  that  he 
rest  the  seventh.     Seeing  therefore,  that  God  hath  left  it  to 


170  The  Church  has  power  to  decree 

SEEM,  all  men's  liberty,  that  if  they  think  good  they  might  labour 

'■ —  six  days,  they  say  that  neither  the  power  of  the  Church,  nor 

any  power  under  heaven,  can  take  away  this  liberty  from 
them,  which  nevertheless,  by  appointing  so  many  holy  days 
to  be  kept  as  are  among  us,  is  frequently  done.  Nay,  if  it 
be  lawful,  they  say,  to  abridge  men's  liberty  in  this  point, 
and  where  God  says  here,  *  six  days  thou  mayest  labour,  if 
thou  wilt/  the  Church  shall  say,  '  thou  shalt  not  labour  six 
days/  they  see  no  reason  why  the  Church  may  not  as  well 
command  and  say,  '  thou  shalt  work  upon  the  seventh  day,* 
though  God  says  upon  it  thou  shalt  do  no  work  at  all. 

But  if  they  can  see  no  reason  to  the  contrary  of  this,  I 
dare  say  it  is  long  of  their  evil  eyes ;  as  likewise  that  which 
they  add,  that  they  see  not  but  if  the  Church  may  restrain 
the  liberty  which  God  hath  given  men;  it  may  as  well  take 
away  the  yoke  which  God  hath  put  upon  them.  And  their 
conclusion  is,  that  there  is  no  power  on  earth  that  can  take 
away  this  liberty. 

Which  assertion  (though  here  applied  no  further  than  to 
this  present  case)  extended  once  to  many,  will  not  only  shake 
the  universal  fabric  of  all  government  and  authority,  but 
instantly  open  a  gap,  nay  set  open  the  flood-gates  to  all  con- 
fusion and  anarchy.  For  whereas  God  Himself  hath  de- 
fined things  of  greatest  weight  (such  as  this  seventh  day 
is,)  and  left  all  sorts  of  men  in  the  rest  to  be  guided  either 
by  their  own  discretion,  if  they  be  free  from  subjection  to 
others,  or  else  to  be  ordered  and  commanded  by  the  laws 
of  their  superiors,  under  whom  they  live ;  these  pleaders  for 
freedom  and  patrons  of  liberty,  would  have  it  proclaimed  to 
the  world,  that  all  such  laws  and  commandments  are  void, 
which  are  made  of  things  neither  exacted  nor  prohibited 
by  the  law  of  God.  Whereas  indeed  the  very  contrary 
assertion  is  certainly  true ;  and  we  must  either  maintain 
that  those  things  which  the  law  of  God  leaveth  at  liberty 
are  all  subject  to  the  positive  laws  and  precepts  of  our 
government,  or  else  we  must  overthrow  the  world  and  make 
every  man  his  own  commander. 

Seeing  then  that  labour  is  left  free,  and  rest  is  left  free 
upon  any  one  day  of  these  six  by  this  law  of  God,  how  come 
they,  or  how  can  they  exempt  them   from   the  power  of 


in  matters  left  indifferent.  171 

human  laws,  unless  the  world  has  no  power  to  make  any  law 
at  all? 

I  will  put  one  question  to  them,  and  it  shall  be  but  one ; 
the  other  holy  days  and  feasts  of  the  Jews,  besides  their 
Sabbath  day,  the  feast  of  Tabernacles,  of  the  Dedication,  of 
Lots,  were  they  not  all  allowed  and  approved  by  God  ?  Had 
they  not  all  and  every  one  offended,  that  had  refused  to  keep 
and  observe  them?  and  yet  were  they  not  an  abridgment 
of  the  people's  liberty  in  using  all  these  six  days  of  the  week 
at  their  pleasure?  There  is  no  question  but  they  were; 
and  there  is  no  answer  to  be  given  to  these  things. 

For  doth  our  Church  in  these  things  any  otherwise  than 
God  and  His  holy  saints  have  done  before  her?  I  conclude 
with  the  style  of  the  councils  %  Sequentes  igitur  et  nos  per 
omnia  sanctorum  vestigia.  Herein  we  do  but  tread  in  the 
steps  of  our  holy  fathers,  and  follow  them  that  were  followers 
therein  of  God  Himself.  And  now  I  come  to  that  which 
follows  here  in  the  text. 

II.  *  But  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord ;  in 
it  thou  shalt  do  no  manner  of  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor 
thy  daughter,  thy  manservant,  nor  thy  maidservant,  nor  thy 
cattle,  nor  the  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates.' 

Where  what  the  seventh  day  was,  and  why  it  was  called 
the  Sabbath,  I  have  told  you  before ;  shewing  you  what  was 
moral  and  for  ever  to  endure,  and  what  was  circumstantial, 
or  alterable,  in  them  both ;  that  sabbaths,  or  days  of  rest  to 
be  kept  holy  to  God,  are  of  the  moral  law,  and  founded  in 
nature ;  that  one  of  seven  is  commanded  of  God  in  Scripture 
perpetually  to  be  observed;  that  this  one,  as  long  as  the  Jews' 
synagogue  lasted,  was  to  be  the  seventh ;  that  both  it,  and 
the  manner  of  keeping  it,  being  figures  of  things  to  come, 
were  buried  with  Christ  in  His  grave.  Upon  Whose  resur- 
rection, that  there  arose  the  beginning  of  a  new  day,  which 
now  we  call  the  Lord's  day,  to  remain  for  ever,  and  not  to  be 
altered.  Wherein  though  Mr.  Calvin  and  some  other  new 
writers  dissent  from  us,  (who  say  that  neither  one  day  of 
seven,  nor  yet  that  this  day  of  the  Lord,  is  so  commanded  or 
established  but  that  it  is  still  alterable  by  the  Church,  so  that 

•  See  Binii  Cone,  vol.  v.  pp.  428— *30. 


172        The  holiness  of  the  Lord's  day  whence  derived. 

SEEM,  any  other  day  may  be  kept  as  well  as  it  ^)  yet  I  verily  believe 
— ^^ —  that  both  Scripture  and  Fathers  are  herein  more  plain  for 
ours  than  for  theirs,  or  for  any  other  opinion  whatsoever. 

But  herein  we  agree  ^,  that  qua  talis,  the  seventh  day  and 
the  Sabbath  belonged  not  to  the  moral  law,  that  therefore 
both  the  nature  and  the  name  of  the  Sabbath  is  gone, 
and  was  not  so  much  as  used  among  Christians  for  1560 
years  together,  till  now  of  late  that  some  ^  men  began  to  ex- 
pound this  commandment  somewhat  like  Jews,  not  being 
content  with  the  substance  of  it  neither,  but  stretching  out 
the  very  circumstances  also,  (many  of  them,)  to  a  perpetual 
necessity  and  duty  for  ever.  Which,  why  they  do,  and  to 
what  end  they  do  it,  (making  almost  a  schism  about  it  too, 
in  many  places,)  I  cannot  tell.  But  this  I  know,  letting 
them  pass,  I  know  what  we  are  to  do;  that  herein,  as  be- 
cometh  those  who  follow  with  all  humility  the  ways  of  God 
and  of  peace,  we  are  to  honour,  reverence,  and  obey,  in 
the  very  next  degree  unto  God,  the  voice  of  the  Church 
of  God  wherein  we  live. 

And  according  unto  the  sound  of  that  voice,  which  I  have 
heard  and  listened  to  afore  from  the  first,  I  shall  now  speak 
to  you  of  this  commandment  like  a  Christian,  and  not  like 
a  Jew  ;  that  is,  I  shall  neglect  the  Sabbath,  with  which  we 
have  nothing  to  do  now,  and  set  forth  the  religion  of  the 
Lord's  day,  dies  Dominicus,  as  all  our  books  call  it ;  which 
all  men  are  bound  for  ever  with  all  holiness  to  observe. 

Where  first,  we  say  that  this  day,  in  itself,  is  no  more 
than  any  other  days  of  the  week  be;  all  the  days  of  the 
year,  qua  tales,  are  alike,  and  not  one  better  or  more  holy 
than  another.     Whence  then  is  the  difi'erence  ? 

Ye  are  to  know  that  God  hath  dealt  with  days  as  with 
men.  By  nature  all  men  whatsoever  are  alike ;  so  are  al] 
days.  There  ^  be  some  men  separated  from  the  vulgar  sort 
and  exalted  above  the  rest,  as  magistrates  and  kings  are,  as 


••  See  Heylyn's  History  of  the  Sab-  work  upon  the  Sabbath  appeared  first 

bath,  partii.  chap.  6.  §  7.  p.  466.  edit,  in  1595,  and  again  in  1606.    See  some 

1681.  extracts    from    it    in    the    treatise    of 

«=  See  Heylyn,  part  ii.  chap.  6.  §  6.  Heylyn,  part  ii.  chap.  6.  §  7. 
p.  465.  <=  The  whole    of  this    paragraph    is 

^  The    chief    propagator    of    these  here   repeated  from   the  last  sermon  ; 

opinions   was   one  Dr.  Bound,    whose  see  p.  159. 


One  among  the  things  set  apart  to  holy  uses.         173 

priests  and  ministers  of  God  are ;  we  must  not  use  them  at 
our  pleasure,  as  we  would  use  one  of  our  own  servants.  It 
is  alike  with  these  days,  which  above  all  other  days  are  made 
holy  to  God;  the  rest  are  like  our  own  servants,  we  may 
employ  them  about  our  own  affairs;  but  these  holy  days  we 
may  not  be  so  bold  with,  they  are  set  apart  for  holy  uses, 
for  God's  service,  they  are  none  of  ours,  nor  may  they  be 
employed  about  our  own  business.  Take  another  resem- 
blance, that  it^  may  affect  you  the  better.  The  water  iu 
Baptism,  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  blessed  Sacrament, 
naturally  they  are  no  more  than  other  such  elements  are ; 
but  being  consecrate  and  set  apart  once  to  these  holy  uses, 
for  which  Christ  hath  ordained  and  appointed  them,  quis 
eum  non  lapidibus  obrueret,  saith  St.  Chrysostom,  what  pun- 
ishment should  not  he  deserve,  that  would  usurp  them  to 
common  uses,  and  profane  them  at  his  pleasure  ?  As  the 
water  in  Baptism,  as  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  Eucharist, 
80  is  this  day  consecrate  and  set  apart  by  the  Church,  for 
holy  and  divine  uses.  And  what  reasons  the  Church  had 
so  to  do,  and  to  honour  this  day  above  others,  I  shall  now 
shew  you. 

We  commonly  call  it  Sunday,  the  name  that  our  fore- 
fathers gave  it  before  they  heard  of  Clirist.  For  this  cause 
we  keep  it  not ;  it  was  the  superstition  of  the  pagans  to  in- 
stitute it  to  the  sun,  and  iu  that  respect  to  esteem  it  better 
than  all  other  days  whatsoever.  But  this  is  the  reason  we 
keep  it,  and  I  will  tell  it  you  in  St.  Austin's  words '^:  quia 
hie  dies  per  multa,  eaque  insignia  et  prastatitissima  Dei  opera 
declaratus  est  sanctus  et  venerabilis,  '  because  this  day  hath 
been  made  honourable  and  glorious,  by  the  great  and  mighty 
works  of  God  that  hath  been  done  upon  it ;'  so  that  when 
the  day  comes,  we  do  not  so  much  observe  the  day  itself,  but 


'  Dominicum  ergo  diem  Apostoli  et  trae,  quam  habemus  in  ilia.     Nam  si- 

apostolici  viri  ideo  religiosa  solenni-  cut  ipse  Dominus  Jesus  Christus  et 

tate  habendum  sanxerunt,  quia  in  eo-  Salvator  resurrexit  a  mortuis,  ita  et 

dem  Redemptor  nostrae  a  mortuis  re-  nos  resurrecturos  in  novissiino  die  spe- 

surrexit;    quique  ideo  Dominicus  ap-  ramus  .  .  .  .  Ac  ideo  sancti  doctores 

pellatur,  ut  in  eo  a  terrenis  operibus  Ecclesiae  decreverunt  omnem  gloriam 

vel  mundi  illecebris  abstinentes  tantum  Judaici  Sabbatismi  in  illam  transferre; 

divinis  cultibus  serviamus,  dantes  sci-  ut  quod  ipsi  in  figura,  nos  celebrare- 

licet   diei   huic   honorem   et   reveren-  mus  in  veritate. — S.August.  0pp.  torn. 

tiam  propter  spem  resurrectionis  nos-  x.  fol.  238.  edit.  Paris.  1531. 


174  Great  works  accomplished  on  this  day. 

SEEM,   we  bring  into  our  minds  the  mighty  works  that  God  hath 

'• — wrought   upon  the  day;    for  which  works   of  His  we  are 

bound  to  worship  Him  as  often  as  we  renew  the  memory 
of  them,  and  we  are  bound  to  renew  the  memory  of  them 
as  often  as  the  time  returns;  lest  otherwise  we  should 
wholly  forget  them. 

Therefore  hath  the  Church  of  God  with  great  veneration 
always  observed  this  day,  and  so  religiously  above  others, 
that  to  this  only  it  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
to  them,  to  give  it  the  name  of  dies  Domini,  'the  Lord's 
day/ 

And  what  those  works  now  be,  wherewith  it  hath  pleased 
God  to  magnify  this  day  above  the  rest,  and  to  set  forth 
both  His  glory  and  His  goodness  to  us,  ye  shall  hear  from 
St.  Austin,  as  he  had  it  from  Theophilus,  the  president  of 
a  council  in  Palestine,  Venerabilis  est  hie  dies  (says  he)  qui 
Dominicus  appellatur,  et  dies  primus  ^,  8fC. 

'  This  is  a  venerable  day  which  we  call  the  Lord's  day, 
and  the  first  day  of  the  week,  which  indeed  was  the  very  first 
day  of  the  world,  and  a  day  exalted  by  God's  goodness,  and 
wonders  wrought  upon  it,  far  above  any  other  day  whatso- 
ever. In  it  was  the  light  created,  which  made  the  evening 
and  the  morning  the  first  day ;  in  it  were  the  people  of  God 
delivered  and  set  free  from  the  bondage  of  Pharaoh ;  in  it 
God  rained  down  manna  in  the  wilderness;  in  it  was  Christ 
born,  was  circumcised,  was  worshipped  by  the  Gentiles,  was 
baptized  in  Jordan ;  in  it  He  did  His  first  miracle  and  mani- 
fested forth  His  glory ;  in  it  He  went  in  triumph  towards 
His  passion;  and  when  they  had  slain  Him  and  laid  Him 
in  His  grave,  upon  it  He  rose  again  in  greater  triumph  from 
the  dead.  Afterwards  upon  this  day  He  appeared  to  His 
disciples,  and  upon  this  very  day  sent  His  Holy  Spirit  upon 
them  all.     Upon  which  day  also  we  look  for  His  appearance 

f  Dominicum  ergo  diem  Apostoli  et  mundi,  in  ipso  creati  sunt  angeli,  in 

apostolici   viri  ideo  religicsa  solenni-  ipso  quoque  a  mortuis  resurrexit  Chris- 

tate  habendum  sanxerunt,  quia  in  eo-  tus,  in  ipso  de  ccelis  Spiritus  Sanctus 

dem  Redemptor  noster  a  mortuis  re-  super  Apostolos   descendit,  manna  in 

surrexit,  quique  ergo  Dominicus  ap-  eodem  eremo  primum  de  coelo  datum 

pellatur  [see  last  note]  Apparet  autem  est.     His   enim   speciebus   ac  talibus 

hunc  etiam  in  scripturis  Sanctis  esse  iadiciis  Dominica  dies  extat  insignis. 

solennem.     Ipse  enim  est  primus  dies  — S.  August.  0pp.  torn.  x.  fol.  238  b. 

seculi,  in  ipso  formata  sunt  elementa  edit.  1531. 


It  is  commemorative  of  our  Lord  '5  resurrection.      175 

again  when  He  shall  come  to  judgment,  and  raise  us  up,  all 
that  have  served  Him  truly,  to  eternal  life.' 

These  are  all  the  words  of  St.  Austin,  all  which,  except 
that  of  the  day  of  judgment,  (which  no  man  can  tell,)  are 
either  expressly  verified  by  the  history,  or  generally  de- 
livered to  be  true  by  the  consent  of  the  Church  in  all  ages 
before  him. 

But  among  them  all,  the  chief  and  most  singular  is  that 
mighty  and  glorious  work  of  Christ  in  His  resurrection  from 
the  grave,  by  which,  et  mors  interitum  et  vita  accepit  ini' 
tium,  saith  Leo ;  *  both  death  had  an  end,  and  life  a  new  be- 
ginning.' And  this  is  it  which  more  solemnly  the  Church 
of  God  observeth  every  year  upon  the  feast  of  Easter,  the 
feast  of  Christ's  resurrection ;  renewing  it  every  week  upon 
this  day,  if  not  with  so  great  solemnity,  yet  with  due 
honour  and  religion  that  becometh  Christians,  who  live 
and  die  in  hope  also  of  a  resurrection  to  a  better  life. 

So  have  we  the  reasons  of  observing  this  day  above  all 
others,  and  of  the  Church's  transferring  the  honour  of  the 
old  Jewish  Sabbath  upon  it ;  that  as  the  one  did  continually 
bring  to  mind  the  former  world  finished  by  creation,  so  the 
other  might  keep  us  in  perpetual  remembrance  of  a  far 
better  world  begun  by  Christ,  That  came  to  restore  all 
things,  and  to  make  heaven  and  earth  anew  again. 

To  which  if  ye  add  the  many  figures  that  this  day  had 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  therefore,  (as  St.  Cyprian^  and 
St.  Austin »  argue)  must  of  necessity  be  kept  in  the  New ; 
and  then  the  keeping  of  it,  de  facto,  by  the  Apostles  them- 
selves, in  the  twentieth  chapter  of  St.  John,  in  the  second 
chapter  of  the  Acts,  in  the  twentieth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  in 
the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  and  the  sixteenth  chap- 
ter, and  the  first  chapter  of  the  Revelations;  besides  the 
manifest  and  express  places  of  Scripture,  both  in  the  Old 
and  New  Testament,  that  the  Sabbath  was  to  cease;  then 
have  ye  all  the  reasons  and  causes  why  the  Church  of  God, 
with  great  consent  in  all  ages,  hath  thought  itself  bound  to 
observe  and  honour  this  day ;  and  not  the  day  so  much,  as 

">  This  argument  is  carried  out  at  See  edit.  Baluz.  cxlv,  cxlvi. 

considerable  length,  with  many  illus-  •  See  the  passage  from  St.  Augustine 

trations,  in  the  treatise  De  Sancto  Spi-  already  quoted, 
ritu,  formerly  ascribed  to  St.  Cyprian. 


176  Manner  in  which  it  should  be  kept. 

SEEM,  upon  the  day  to  serve  and  honour  God  Who  hath  done  so 
'■ —  great  things  for  us  as  ye  have  heard. 

III.  From  the  causes  then  of  observing  the  day  I  come  to 
the  rules  and  manner  how  it  should  be  observed  ;  that  is,  how 
it  hath  been  heretofore,  and  how  it  ought  to  be  kept  still ; 
with  what  religion  and  strictness,  with  what  devotion  and 
gladness  we  are  to  celebrate  this  day  of  the  Lord.  Where- 
in I  shall  not  meddle,  I  shall  tell  you  beforehand,  with  the 
Jews'  observances  of  their  Sabbath,  being  for  the  most  part 
shadows  of  things  to  come,  and  no  ways  pertaining  to  us 
further  than  the  general  rules  of  religion  and  moral  duties 
will  carry  them.  But  I  shall  only  shew  you  the  laws  and 
customs  of  our  forefathers  in  the  faith,  by  which  they  kept 
this  day  religiously  from  the  beginning  of  the  Church. 

And  of  this  there  be  many  things  defined  in  councils  with 
great  wisdom  and  sanctity,  set  forth  in  the  Fathers  and 
Doctors  of  the  Church  with  great  piety  and  devotion ;  all 
which,  notwithstanding,  may  be  reduced  to  two  heads ;  to 
those  things  which  are  commanded,  and  to  those  things 
which  are  forbidden  to  be  done  upon  this  day.  Of  both 
which  because  the  themes  are  large,  and  more  to  be  said  of 
either  than  can  be  said  now,  I  shall,  by  God's  grace,  speak 
the  next  time.     To  God,  &c. 


SERMON   XIII. 


Exodus  xx.  10. 

But  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God:  in  it 
thou  shalt  do  no  manner  of  work,  thou  and  thy  son,  and  thy 
daughter,  thy  man  servant  and  thy  maid  servant,  thy  cattle, 
and  the  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates,  ^c. 

You  had  the  precept  before  that  God's  day  was  to  be  kept 
holy;  and  the  reasons  of  the  precept,  why  and  for  what  cause 
it  was  so  to  be  kept.  In  these  words  you  have  the  illustra- 
tion of  it,  how  and  after  what  manner  it  is  to  be  kept; 
wherein  what  I  promised  before,  I  come  now  to  set  forth; 
and  I  shall  shew  you,  as  a  true  pattern  for  you  to  follow, 
what  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  old  Christians,  our  fore- 
fathers in  the  faith,  have  been  concerning  the  religious 
observance  of  this  day,  and  other  such  like,  in  the  Church 
of  God. 

Of  which  divers  things  are  recorded,  not  only  by  the 
ancient  Fathers  in  their  own  writings,  but  by  synods  and 
councils  likewise  in  the  writings  and  laws  of  the  whole 
Church ;  which  being  at  the  first  but  merely  ecclesiastical, 
saving  the  foundation  they  had  in  reason  and  Scripture, 
were  afterwards  confirmed  and  strengthened  by  the  imperial 
and  secular  laws  of  the  state ;  that  so,  one  way  or  other,  or 
by  all  ways  together,  all  men  might  be  brought  to  the  due 
observance,  and  holy  keeping,  of  these  days  of  God. 

I  reduce  all  to  two  heads ;  those  things  which  upon  such 
days  are  commanded,  and  those  things  which  upon  such  days 
are  forbidden  to  be  done ;  by  which,  as  by  a  corollary,  we 
shall  also  see  what  is  permitted  to  be  done,  and  not  so  strictly 
prohibited  as  some  surmise. 

COSIN.  Jif 


178  Division  of  the  subject. 

SEBM.       The  things  commanded  I  distribute  into  four  heads,  and 
^^' —  they  are  the  four  properties  of  all  solemn  festivals  whatso- 


ever, sanctity,  rest,  joyfulness,  and  liberality;  and  the  things 
forbidden  into  as  many  as  be  opposite  to  these,  that  is  to 
say,  profaneness,  unnecessary  labour,  fasting  and  other  signs 
of  sorrow,  sordid  sparing,  and  other  enemies  of  bounty  and 
charity.  Out  of  all  which,  the  things  that  are  permitted  will 
result  of  themselves. 

Now  of  these  that  we  may,  &c. 

THE  BIDDING  OF  THE  COMMON  PRAYERS. 

Fater  Noster,  ^c. 

There  is  a  certain  observation  of  days  and  times  which 
is  impious,  and  therefore  unlawful  and  forbidden;  another 
there  is  which  is  natural  and  useful,  and  therefore  permitted; 
a  third  which  is  religious  and  solemn,  and  therefore  com- 
manded.    Of  these  three  we  are  to  set  forth  the  last. 

The  impious  and  unlawful  observing  of  days,  is  that  which 
the  laws  of  God  and  man  have  condemned,  in  wizards,  and 
soothsayers,  and  in  other  superstitious  and  fond  people,  that 
have  their  good  days  and  their  evil  days  to  observe  by  them- 
selves ;  that  tell  us  such  a  day  is  dismal,  and  such  a  time 
unlucky,  I  know  not  upon  what  fables  and  signs  which  con- 
ceit and  folly  hath  taught  them ;  attributing  those  things  to 
fate,  and  fortune,  and  to  the  signs  of  heaven,  with  other  such 
vanities,  which  belong  properly  to  the  wisdom  and  providence 
of  God.  And  this  is  the  observance  of  days  and  times,  which 
Gal.  4. 10.  St.  Paul  reprehended  in  the  Galatians. 

The  lawful  observance  of  days  is  that  which  neither  regards 
the  signs  of  heaven,  to  divine  by  them,  nor  the  vain  super- 
stitions and  fond  conceits  of  men,  to  be  ruled  or  awed  by 
them ;  but  observeth  only  the  natural  course  and  change  of 
this  inferior  air,  whereby  the  days  and  times  and  seasons 
vary  so  often,  that  of  necessity  regard  must  be  had,  and 
observance  must  be  made,  of  some  days  more  than  others, 
of  all  in  their  divers  seasons,  for  the  despatch  of  common 
and  daily  affairs. 

The  last,  which  is  enjoined  and  commanded,  as  it  con- 
demns the  first,  so  it  pertains  not  to  the  second,  and  indeed 


The  Lord's  day  intended  to  be  a  continual  memorial.     179 

is  not  80  much  an  observance  of  the  days  themselves,  as  of 
some  memorable  thing  that  fell  out  and  was  done  upon  those 
days;  the  memory  of  any  work,  by  the  return  and  observ- 
ance of  that  day  whereon  it  was  wrought,  being  always  best 
and  most  securely  preserved. 

So  the  Jews  were  commanded  to  observe  the  feast  of  the 
Passover,  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first  mouth,  let  the  posi-  Ex.  12. 6. 
tion  of  the  stars,  or  the  face  of  the  sky,  or  other  observances 
be  that  day  what  they  would;  because  that  very  day  God 
smote  the  Egyptians,  and  passed  over  the  houses  of  the  ver.  13. 
Israelites;  and  again,  enjoined  to  keep  every  seventh  day 
of  the  week  a  Sabbath,  as  by  this  commandment;  not 
that  the  Sabbath  day  differed  any  whit  in  nature  from 
another  day,  but  for  that  upon  it  God  rested  from  His 
creation  of  the  universe.  As  they  the  seventh,  so  we  that 
are  Christians  the  first,  in  memory  of  Christ's  resurrection^ 
and  many  other  glorious  and  great  works  that  were  wrought 
by  Him  upon  it";  which  therefore,  by  way  of  a  singular  pre- 
rogative given  to  it  above  all  others,  we  style,  and  usually 
call  the  Lord's  day. 

And  this  is  that  which  St.  Austin  ^  says,  we  hallow  the 
memory  of  God's  benefits  to  His  Church,  with  solemn  feasts 
and  set  days ;  lest  otherwise,  through  negligence  and  ingrati- 
tude we  should  wholly  forget  what  great  things  He  hath  at 
those  times  done  for  us. 

Now  why  God  should  choose  this  first  day  of  the  week, 
which  we  call  the  Lord's  day,  rather  than  another,  wherein 
to  shew  forth  such  manifest  signs  of  His  power  and  goodness 
to  us,  it  were  a  question  vain  and  infinite;  vain,  for  that  no 
other  reason  can  be  given  but  His  will  and  pleasure  only, 
whereinto  we  are  not  to  search ;  infinite,  for  that  the  self- 
same question  would  still  remain,  if  God  for  that  purpose 
had  chosen  any  other  day  besides. 

But  this  is  the  day  which  the  Lord  hath  made,  and  made 
it  so  glorious  and  so  venerable  that  thereupon  the  Church 
hath  transferred  all  the  glory  of  the  other  day,  which  was  the 
old  Sabbath  of  the  Jews.  The  Sabbath  then  is  gone,  and 
the  Lord's  day  is  come  in  place  of  it,  to  be  received  obedi- 
ently as  the  other,  and  to  be  observed  too,  religiously  as  the 

»  See  the  previous  sermon,  p.  174.  ''  See  p.  173,  note  f. 

n3 


180  The  observation  of  sacred  seasons 

SEEM,  other,  though  not  with  the  same  ceremonies,  yet  with  the 

xni.  >         o  'J 
'■ —  same  substance  that  the  other  was. 


And  all  this,  by  virtue  not  of  any  human  constitution,  but 
of  the  very  moral  law  of  God,  whereunto  we  stand  all  bound; 
for  suppose  this  Sabbath  of  the  Jews  gone,  as  it  must  be 
supposed,  yet  I  trow  that  this  will  be  granted  me,  that  Christ 
hath  left  a  power  to  His  Church,  the  same  that  God  left 
with  Moses  in  the  mount,  for  the  tabernacle,  to  make  and 
Heb.  8. 5.   appoint  another  day  according  to  the  pattern  of  the  first. 

That  pattern  was  the  life  of  this  commandment ;  and  the 
life  and  moral  vigour  of  this  commandment  is,  to  have  some 
days  set  apart  for  holy  uses,  and  for  the  outward  and  public 
service  of  God.  This  is  in  nature,  and  in  the  moral  law; 
which,  if  it  were  not  written  here,  is  written  in  every  man's 
heart. 

That  such  days  then  there  must  be,  is  moral.  And  this  is 
moral,  that  all  things  in  the  service  of  God  must  be  done  in 
order,  not  that  every  body  should  appoint  a  day  by  himself; 
and  this  is  moral  too,  that  obedience  must  be  given  to 
superiors  in  those  things  wherein  they  are  superiors.  And 
therefore  this  also  must  needs  be  moral,  that  the  observing 
of  the  seventh  day  then  determined  by  God  before  for  the 
Jews  was  moral  to  them,  and  that  likewise  the  observing 
of  the  first  day  now,  determined,  if  not  by  Christ  and  His 
Apostles,  yet  by  our  superiors,  we  are  sure  our  lawful 
superiors  in  the  universal  Church  of  Christ,  to  whom  we 
owe  obedience,  must  be  moral  to  us. 

Therefore  it  was  to  the  Jews  as  well  moral  to  observe  other 
certain  days,  which  God  and  their  superiors  had  determined, 
as  to  observe  the  seventh,  or  any  day  at  all ;  for  they  were 
all  called  Sabbaths,  though  the  seventh  was  more  eminently 
styled  so  than  the  rest.  And  it  is  as  well  moral  to  us,  to 
observe  other  days,  which  the  Church  and  our  superiors  have 
commanded  to  be  kept  holy,  as  to  observe  this  first;  for  they 
be  all  called  holy  days,  though  this  Lord's  day,  by  a  special 
prerogative  that  it  hath  in  Christ's  resurrection,  be  more 
eminently  styled  so  than  the  rest.  And  the  reason  is  un- 
answerable, because  by  this  or  that  limitation  of  a  day,  there 
is  no  morality  infused  or  brought  upon  the  day  itself,  but  a 
former  morality  only  awakened  and  revived,  which  consisteth 


is  a  part  of  the  moral  law.  181 

in  a  due  obedience  to  God,  and  to  the  order  of  His  Church, 
which  is  our  superior  in  these  cases. 

This  obedience  we  are  sure  is  moral,  and  this  order  per- 
petual ;  the  order  that  is  now,  and  ever  hath  been  established 
since  Christ's  time,  for  the  observance  of  this  day ;  neither 
can  we  see  any  reason  why  it  should,  or  why  it  can  be 
possible  ever  to  alter  it  again,  unless  men  can  bring  Christ 
out  of  heaven  into  His  grave  again,  and  prevail  with  Him 
to  rise  from  it  upon  some  other  day,  since  the  day  itself 
is  founded,  and,  as  St.  Austin  speaks,  hallowed  and  made 
sacred,  by  the  day  of  Christ's  resurrection  <=,  which  was  the 
first  day  of  the  week,  the  day  that  we  now  observe. 

Wherefore  we  must  needs  depart  from  that  error,  which 
some  heretics  of  old  began,  and  some  of  late  have  endeavoured 
to  revive,  that  because  the  old  Sabbath  is  called  pactum  sem-  Ex.  81. 13. 
piternum,  therefore  we  are  bound  to  keep  it  still,  the  Saturday 
for  the  Sunday,  or  the  Sunday  for  it,  or  the  one  at  least  as 
well  as  the  other.  For  to  that  objection  o(  pactum  sempiter- 
num,  any  of  St.  Austin's  answers  will  serve,  either  that  it  is 
called  everlasting  because  it  signified  an  everlasting  rest,  or 
else  because  it  bound  the  Jews  everlastingly,  that  is,  as  long 
as  their  religion  stood,  and  might  not  be  intermitted,  as  some 
other  ceremonies  of  theirs  were. 

But  their  Sabbaths  bind  not  us,  neither  one  nor  other,  we 
depart  from  them  that  think  so.  And  so  we  do  from  them 
who  think  we  are  bound  to  no  festival  days  at  all,  or  at  least 
to  none  but  one,  which  they  call  the  Sabbath,  and  we,  more 
properly,  the  Lord's  day  ;  seeing  the  command  of  our  lawful 
superiors  is  upon  us  far  more,  to  which  we  owe  obedience,  as 
we  have  said,  even  by  the  moral  law. 

And  now  I  come  from  keeping  these  days,  to  the  manner 
and  due  order  of  keeping  them  aright,  according  to  the  laws 
of  God  and  His  Church.  Wherein,  though  I  would  have  my 
discourse  chiefly  and  primarily  referred  to  the  Lord's  day, 
yet  I  would  not  have  other  holy  days  excluded,  that  are 
appointed  by  the  Church,  and  by  the  laws  of  the  kingdom 
besides. 

II.  Among  the  things  commanded,  sanctity  is  the  first, 
that  they  be  kept  holy. 

"  See  p.  173,  note  U 


182  God  must  be  worshipped  no  less  in  public 

SEEM.       (1.)  Which  will  then  be  done,  if  both  in  public  and  private 
— 5IH: —  we  perform  those  holy  duties  that  belong  unto  them. 


In  public,  to  come  and  meet  together  at  the  church,  to 
make  an  holy  convocation  to  the  Lord,  as  upon  such  days 
Lev.  23. 3.  Himself  enjoins,  there  to  celebrate  divine  service  in  the 
public  place  of  God's  worship,  and  to  do  Him  open  homage 
in  the  sight  of  all  men ;  in  brief,  there  to  do  as  we  tell  you 
and  invite  you  to  do  here,  when  first  we  begin  to  assemble 
together ;  that  is,  first  to  acknowledge,  and  with  an  humble, 
lowly,  penitent  and  obedient  heart,  to  confess  our  manifold 
sins  and  wickedness,  without  any  dissembling  or  cloaking  of 
them,  to  the  end  that  we  may  obtain  forgiveness  of  the  same, 
by  God's  infinite  goodness  and  mercy.  To  which  end,  first 
you  make  your  confession,  and  we  as  God's  ministers  pro- 
nounce the  absolution  ; — then,  to  render  thanks  for  the  great 
benefits  which  daily  we  have  received  at  His  hands,  and  to 
set  forth  His  most  worthy  praise, — for  which  purpose  the 
Church  hath  next  appointed  us  our  psalms  and  our  hymns, 
to  be  said  and  sung  in  their  order; — after  this,  to  hear  His 
most  holy  word,  and  to  learn  your  duties  from  what  you 
hear,  not  only  in  the  sermon,  which  is  an  explanation  of  His 
word,  but  in  the  lessons  and  the  gospels  too,  which  are  God's 
word  itself.  And  lastly,  to  ask  those  things  which  be  requisite 
and  necessary,  as  well  for  the  body  as  the  soul ;  and  this  in 
the  litanies,  prayers,  collects,  and  supplications  that  follow. 
This  to  do  both  morning  and  evening,  as  the  Church  hath 
enjoined  us ;  and  besides  this,  to  give  attendance  also  to  all 
other  holy  actions  that  are  publicly  done  and  performed  in 
the  church,  but  especially  to  the  blessed  Sacrament  of  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  which,  for  my  part,  I  think  the 
Church's  intention  is,  as  well  for  the  honour  of  our  Saviour, 
as  for  our  own  good  and  benefit,  to  have  celebrated  a  little 
oftener  than  it  is.  I  say,  for  the  honour  of  our  Saviour, — 
and  we  are  at  a  holy  work  when  we  are  honouring  Him, — 
not  only  because  thereby  we  submit  ourselves  to  His  ordi- 
nance, that  would  have  the  memory  of  His  precious  passion 
daily  preserved  till  His  coming  again,  but  because  in  this 
service  we  honour  those  things  in  Him,  which  all  the  rest  of 
the  world  besides  despise  and  contemn, — I  name  the  humility 
of  His  incarnation,  the  baseness  and  bitterness  of  His  death. 


than  in  private.  183 

the  ignominy  of  His  cross,  the  multitude  of  His  sufferings — 
all  which  we  honour  and  adore, — though  other  miscreants  of 
the  world  abhor  them,  and  scorn  our  Saviour  for  them — in 
using  and  frequenting  this  holy  Sacrament.  And  it  is  to  be 
lamented,  nay  and  I  trow  it  is  to  be  amended  too,  that  we 
honour  Christ  no  oftener  this  way.  Had  St.  Chrysostom 
lived  among  us,  he  would  have  complained  most  bitterly 
against  us,  not  only  for  defrauding  ourselves  of  many  graces 
and  helps,  that  might  come  to  us  by  the  frequent  use  of  it, 
but  also,  and  that  chiefly,  for  despoiling  Christ,  as  much  as 
in  us  lies,  of  His  highest  and  most  peculiar  honour  that  He 
hath  reserved  to  Himself,  et  cum  sit  panis  quotidianus  faciiis 
JEumpanem  annuum  ^,  as  he  said,  *  What,  come  ye  once  a  year 
to  your  daily  food  ?*  he  speaks  of  the  Sacrament,  which  was 
then  called  panis  quotidianus  •,  as  well  as  our  own  that  we 
feed  our  bodies  with  daily ;  but  feed  our  bodies  no  oftener 
with  the  one  than  usually  we  do  now  our  souls  with  the 
other,  and  I  trow  they  will  quickly  famish.  Neither  do  I 
know  any  reason  why  there  should  not  as  good  care  be  taken 
for  the  soul,  and  the  due  honour  of  Christ,  as  there  is  for  the 
body  and  the  daily  respect  that  we  give,  and  look  to  be  given 
to  ourselves.  Sure  I  am  this  would  keep  the  day  more  holy 
than  it  useth  to  be  kept  without  it,  for  it  would  be  sancta 
Sanctis  *,  men  would  study  and  give  themselves  to  more  holi- 
ness upon  it ;  and  I  would  it  were  so,  that  the  holy  Sacra- 
ment might  always  and  ever  accompany  this  holy  day  »,  and 
some  of  you  at  one  time  and  some  at  another  might  assist  at 
that  holy,  the  holiest  of  all  holy  services.  And  this  now  for 
our  holy  duties  in  public. 

Besides  which  there  is  somewhat  to  be  done  in  private, 
that  must  tend  to  holiness  also,  and  to  the  sanctity  of  the 
day ;  for  to  be  holy  in  the  church,  and  unholy  at  home  or 
abroad,  is  just  as  much  as  to  say,  Ave,  Rex  Christe,  and  then  Mat.  27. 
to  spit  in  His  face ;  to  cry  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David,  in 


Mat.  21. 
29. 


*  See  Bingham,  xv.  9.  §  2.  nem  percipere,  nee  laudo  nee  vitupero. 

•  Ibid.  Omnibus  tamen  dominicis  diebus  com- 
'  Probably  suggested  to  the  mind  of  municandum  suadeo  et  hortor,  si  tamen 

the  writer  from  having  formed  part  of  mens  sine  affectu  peccati  sit — Gennad. 

the  service  of  the  Mass  according  to  Massil.  de  Ecclesiae  Dogmat.  cap.  53. 

the  use  of  Saruu).  p.  31.  edit.  Hamb.  1614'. 
B  Quotidie  Eucharistiae  communio- 


184)  The  Lord's  day  must  be  kept  holy. 

SEEM,  the  temple,  and  then  to  crucify  Him  at  Golgotha,  as  the 
Jews  and  miscreant  people  did ;  therefore,  to  keep  the  day 


Mat.  27.     j^qI^  i^  private  too. 

And  that,  by  instructing  both  ourselves  and  our  families 
in  the  ways  of  God;  by  reading,  praying,  and  meditating 
upon  such  things  as  we  have  learned,  for  the  good  of  our 
souls,  for  the  correcting  of  our  former  sins,  for  the  amend- 
ment of  our  lives,  and  for  the  exercise  of  all  other  spiritual 
virtues,  and  good  deeds  whatsoever. 

But  in  the  meanwhile  ye  shall  know,  that  though  this 

private  holiness  and  service  be  good  and  godly,  yet  that  ye 

do  not  your  duties  unless  ye  attend  the  public  besides ;  for 

God  and  His  Church  will  have  neither  of  them  to  go  alone. 

The  voice  of  joy  and  thanksgiving  is  in  the  dwellings  of 

ver.  15.  the  righteous,  saith  king  David,  when  he  prophesied  in  the 
hundred  and  eighteenth  Psalm  of  this  very  day.  And  truly 
in  the  dwellings  of  the  righteous  at  home,  if  there  it  be,  it 
does  well,  though  I  am  afraid  lest  in  many  of  our  houses 
there  be  no  such  holiness ;  yet  put  the  case  there  be,  let  us 
believe  men  when  they  say  they  serve  God  at  home,  though 
they  be  not  here  at  His  Church,  the  prophet  will  tell  us 
that  that  home-serving  will  not  serve  God's  turn  j  He  must 
have  it  in  atrio  sancto  too,  in  His  own  dwelling,  as  well  as 
ours.  And  therefore  at  the  nineteenth  verse  he  goes  on  and 
says  aperite  mihi  portas,  go  and  open  me  the  gates  of  righte- 
ousness, that  is,  the  church  doors,  that  he  might  come  and 
enter  into  the  courts  of  the  Lord ;  his  own  house,  as  holy 
as  it  was,  might  not  hold  him,  but  he  would  go  into  the 
tabernacle   of  God,   and  fall   down  low   before   His   foot- 

Ps.  22.22.  stool,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation,  he  calls  it 
the  great  congregation,  in  reference  to  the  great  solemnity 
of  the  day ;  when  indeed  he  would  have  it  so  great  that  it 

Ps.118. 27.  might  constituere  diem  solennem  in  condensis,  usque  ad  cornua 
Altaris, — they  are  his  own  words — fill  the  Church  so  full,  as 
that  the  people  might  be  seen  to  stand  thick  in  it,  from  the 
very  entrance  of  the  door  to  the  very  edge  of  the  Altar ;  that 
is,  from  the  very  lowest  to  the  very  highest  place  of  the 
church.  And  let  this  be  enough  for  the  first  rule,  that 
these  days  be  kept  with  sanctity  and  holiness,  both  public 
and  private. 


//  must  be  a  day  of  rest ^  but  not  of  idleness.  185 

(2.)  For  the  better  observance  whereof,  follows  the  second 
thing  commanded  in  the  keeping  of  this  day ;  which  is,  rest 
from  our  servile  and  unnecessary  labours. 

Which  rest,  if  we  consider  it  alone  by  itself,  is  not  properly 
any  part  of  the  sanctification  and  holiness  whereof  we  speak, 
but  a  means  and  help  only  to  the  readier  practice  and  more 
free  performance  of  it. 

And  a  good  means  it  is ;  for  if  we  be  taken  up  with  other 
worldly  and  ordinary  employments,  how  can  we  attend  the 
service  and  holy  things  of  God  ?  Therefore,  to  rest  this  while 
from  them,  that  we  may  be  the  more  free  both  in  body  and 
in  mind  to  be  at  God's  commandment,  and  wholly  to  addict 
ourselves  to  the  knowledge,  contemplation,  and  practice  of 
spiritual  and  heavenly  duties,  so  to  rest  that  nothing  may 
trouble  or  hinder  us  from  doing  God  both  the  public  and 
private  service  that  He  and  Kis  Church  requireth  at  our 
hands. 

And  this  is  that  which  the  Psalmist  speaks,  vacate  et 
videte^;  first  vacate,  rest  from  your  bodily  labour,  to  dis- Ps. 46. lo. 
tinguish  the  day;  aud  then  videte,  come  hither  to  behold 
God's  presence  in  holiness,  to  sanctify  the  day ;  so  that  in 
keeping  of  all  holy  days,  there  is  still  a  cessate,  a  rest  from 
bodily  and  servile  labour.  For  ordinary  labours  are  both  in 
themselves  painful,  and  base  also  in  comparison  of  festival 
services  done  to  God;  in  regard  whereof  the  very  natural 
diflference  between  them  must  needs  enforce  that  the  one 
should  submit  and  give  way  to  the  other,  because  neither 
of  them  can  concur  and  be  done  together.  And  besides  of 
rest  for  this  purpose,  all  that  ever  made  trial  what  it  was  to 
have  the  soul  busied  in  high  matters  will  certainly  say,  as 
the  philosopher  said  truly,  postulandis  esse  secessum  ut  melius 
intendamus ;  we  must  give  over  other  cares,  if  we  mean  to 
intend  these  here  as  we  should  do. 

By  all  which  ye  see  here  that  we  take  not  rest  for  idleness. 
They  are  idle,  who  to  avoid  painfulness  will  not  use  the 
labour  whereunto  God  and  nature  hath  bound  them;  they 

^  Cum    enim    Sabbato    significetur  tur  homines  ab  ipso  Domino  dicente, 

spiritalis  requies,  de  qua   dictum    est  '  Venite  ad  Me,  omnes' &c. — S.August. 

Psalmo  45.  (46.)  10, 'Vacate  et  videte,  Epist.  119.  ad  Januar.  §  12.  0pp.  ii. 

quoniam  Ego  sum  Deus,'  et  quo  vocan-  103.  ed.  Bened.  1700. 


186  It  is  a  day  for  Christian  Joy  and  liberality. 

SEEM,  rest,  which  either  cease  from  their  work  when   they  have 

XIII 

done  it  and   made   it   perfect,  or  else  give  over  a  meaner 


labour  because  a  worthier  and  a  better  is  to  be  undertaken. 
And  of  this  latter  sort  is  the  rest  that  we  speak  of,  and  is 
requisite  for  the  better  keeping  and  sanctifying  the  holy 
days  and  festivals  of  God.  So  have  you  the  two  first, 
sanctity  and  rest. 

We  come  to  the  other  two  properties,  joy  and  bounty. 
For  the  days  which  are  chosen  out  to  serve  as  public  memo- 
rials of  God's  mercies  to  us,  ought  to  be  clothed  with  those 
outward  robes  of  festivity,  whereby  their  difference  from 
other  days  may  be  made  sensible. 

(3.)  And  that  joy  and  gladness  is  one  of  these,  we  have 
Ps.  118. 24.  express  Scripture  for  it,  from  the  mouth  of  the  prophet 
David,  '  This  is  the  day  which  the  Lord  hath  made,  let  us 
rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it ;'  and  from  the  mouth  of  God  Him- 
Lev.23.40.  self,  *  In  your  solemn  feasts  ye  shall  take  of  the  goodly  fruits, 
and  branches  of  the  trees,  and  you  shall  eat  your  bread  with 
joy,  and  rejoice  before  the  Lord.' 

According  to  the  rule  of  which  general  directions  taken 
from  the  law  of  God,  the  practice  of  the  Church  hath  ever 
been  guided ;  that  is,  in  regard  of  the  natural  fitness  and 
decency  of  the  thing  itself,  and  not  with  reference  to  any 
Jewish  ceremonies,  such  as  were  properly  theirs,  and  are  not 
by  us  expedient  to  be  continued. 

But  this  of  joy,  is  so  expedient  and  natural  for  a  festival 
solemnity,  that  without  it,  it  seems  no  feast  at  all,  seems 
rather  one  of  those  black  and  dismal  days,  wherein  well  may 
we  be  humbled  with  sorrow  and  fasting,  for  some  punish- 
ment that  justly  befel  us  upon  the  day,  but  acknowledge  no 
benefit  or  great  work  of  Christ,  such  as  was  done  for  us 
upon  this  day. 

Fasting  then,  and  sitting  all  day  pensive  and  still  upon 
Sundays,  as  the  use  of  some^  is,  is  no  good  Christianity^,  is 
unnatural  and  no  way  suitable  to  the  honour  of  the  day,  nor 
no  way  decent  in  itself,  neither;  because,  while  the  mind 
hath  just  occasion  to  adorn  and  deck  herself  with  gladness, 

'  See  Heylyn  on  the  Sabbath,  part  2.  §  5,  and  Heylyn  on  the  Sabbath, 
ii.  chap.  8.  §  8.  part  ii.  chap,  3.  §  8. 

^  See  Bingham,  xvi.  8.  §  3,  and  xx. 


What  is  forbidden  to  be  done  on  this  day.  187 

as  upon  the  apprehension  and  meditation  of  Christ's  benefits 
this  day  it  hath,  the  need  of  sorrow  and  pensiveness  be- 
cometh  her  not '. 

(4.)  To  joy  and  cheerfulness  we  add  bounty  and  liberality, 
which  is  required  in  them  that  abound,  partly  as  a  sign  of 
their  own  joy  and  thankfulness  to  God,  expressed  by  any 
oblation  to  Him,  and  partly  as  a  means  whereby  to  refresh 
the  poor  and  needy ;  who  being,  especially  at  these  times, 
made  partakers  of  relaxation  and  joy  with  others,  do  the 
more  religiously  bless  God  with  us,  and  the  more  contentedly 
endure  the  burden  of  that  hard  estate  wherein  they  continue. 
Neither  did  the  old  Christians,  that  were  any  ways  able, 
think  any  Lord's  day,  or  other  holy  day,  rightly  observed  by 
them,  wherein  they  brought  not  their  offering  to  the  Church™, 
in  sign  of  thankfulness  to  God,  and  gave  not  their  alms  to 
the  poor  °  besides,  in  sign  of  amity  and  love  to  their  brethren. 
For  which  we  have  express  Scripture  also,  both  from  the 
mouth  of  God,  *  Ye  shall  not  appear  before  the  Lord  empty ;'  Dent.  16. 
and  from  the  mouth  of  St.  Paul,  *  Laying  aside  every  first 
day  of  the  week  (which  this  day  is)  for  the  necessity  of  the  iCor.16.2. 
saints.*  This  was  the  manner  of  keeping  holy  days  in  old 
time ;  and  all  these  things  that  ye  have  heard  commanded, 
as  properly  belonging  to  them,  but  especially  and  above  all 
to  the  Lord's  day. 

III.  And  now  by  these  things  that  are  commanded  ye 
may  easily  collect  both  what  is  forbidden,  and  what  is 
permitted. 

(1.)  Forbidden  first,  profaneness,  unholiness,  the  opposite 
to  sanctity;  all  sin  and  wickedness  in  private,  all  careless 
and  retchless  ^  attendance  of  God's  holy  service  in  public.  '  heedless 
Not  that  these  are  lawful  or  permitted  upon  any  other  day 
besides,  but  that  upon  this  day  we  be  more  wary  and 
cautelous  *,  when  we  are  to  have  our  special  conversation « cautious 
with  God  and  His  Church,  than  we  use  to  be  upon  other 
days,  when  we  converse  with  men  and  the  affairs  of  the 
world.  And  be  we  all  assured,  that  though  sin  and  profane- 
ness upon  any  day  shall  be  punished,  yet  if  it  be  not  only 
done,  but  done  upon  this  day  too,  it  shall  have  a  double 

'  S.August.  0pp.  ii.  53.  edit.  1700.  ■»  See  Bingham,  xv.  2.  §  1. 

n  See  Bingham,  xv.  8.  §  12. 


188  Sin  more  sinful  on  this  day. 

S  E  R  M.  punishment ;  one  for  the  sin  itself,  and  another  for  profaning 
'- —  the  day. 

So  that  against  this  commandment,  generally,  they  all 
offend  which  will  not  cease  from  their  own  carnal  wills  and 
pleasures,  but  follow  them  on  still  upon  the  Sunday,  as  they 
did  all  the  week  before. 

And  they  in  special,  that  regarding  neither  the  holiness  of 
this  day,  nor  the  holiness  of  this  place,  come  not  at  it  to  do 
their  bounden  duty  and  service  to  God,  but  pass  their  time 
either  in  idleness,  or  riot,  or  other  vain  and  idle  pastimes. 
St.  Austin  said  well  of  them,  these  people  keep  not  Sabba- 
thum  Jehov(By  but  Sabbatum  Sat  ana ;  they  keep  holy  day  for 
the  devil  and  not  for  God ;  and  should  be  better  employed, 
says  he,  labouring  and  ploughing  in  their  fields,  than  so  to 
spend  the  day  in  idleness  and  vanity ;  and  women  should 
better  bestow  their  time  in  spinning  of  wool  [lanam  et  linam 
are  his  words)  than  upon  the  Lord's  day  to  lose  their  time 
leaping  and  dancing,  and  other  such  wantonness".  There- 
fore qui  vacant  peccatis,  nugis,  choreis,  spectaculis,  in  diebus 
Dominicis  are  all,  in  St.  Austin's  judgment,  breakers  of  this 
holy  commandment  of  God  and  profaners  of  His  festival. 
For  following  sins  and  wickedness,  the  satisfaction  of  men's 
own  lusts,  I  told  you  he  called  it  Sabbatum  Satance  p  ;  for 
following  idleness,  and  sport,  and  lewd  pastimes,  he  calls  it 
Sabbatum  vituli  aurei ;  they  that  skipped  about  the  golden 
calf  kept  as  good  a  holy  day  as  these. 

(2.)  The  next  thing  forbidden,  which  I  can  but  name 
now,  is  servile  and  bodily  labour ;  our  worldly  employments, 
though  other  days  never  so  lawful,  being  the  opposite  to 
rest,  and  the  hindrance  of  all  religious  exercises  and  public 
duties  upon  this  day,  as  we  have  before  declared. 

They,  therefore,  that  have  herein  contemned  the  ordinances 
of  God  and  His  Church,  and  whereas  God  hath  given  them 
so  many  days  for  themselves   and   their  own   affairs,  must 

•  Dicitur  tibi    ut    spiritualiter   ob-  rent,  quam  tota  die  in  neomeniis  suis 

serves  Sabbatum ;  non  quomodo  Judsei  impudice    saltarent.  —  S.  August,    de 

observant  Sabbatum  carnali  otio.    Va-  Decern    Chordis.      See    also    in   Psal. 

care  enim  volunt  ad  nugas  atque  luxu-  133,Enarr.  2.  0pp.  iv.  143,  and  Enarr. 

lias  suas.    Melius  enim  faceret  Judseus  in  Psal.  91.  p.  737. 
inagro  suo  aliquid  utile,  quam  in  thea-  p  So  also  St.  Chrysostom,  Hom.  vi. 

tro   seditiosus    existeret.       Et    melius  in  Genes,  (ii.  45.  edit.  Francof.)  cited 

feminse  eorum  die  Sabbati  lanam  face-  by  Bingbam,  xvi.  8.  §  4. 


Its  sanctity  always  enforced.  189 

needs  make  bold  with  this  and  profane  it  also,  have  ever  been 
severely  censured.  And  truly,  the  voluntary,  scandalous 
contempt,  such  as  otherwhiles  we  see  among  some  of  our 
people,  of  the  rest  from  labour,  by  means  whereof  God  is 
publicly  served  upon  this  day,  cannot  too  severely  be  cor- 
rected and  bridled.  Nehemiah  protested  against  them,  and  Neh.  13. 
so  do  we,  and  so  hath  the  Church  of  God,  and  the  Christian  &c.  '  ' 
superiors  and  governors  of  God's  people  ever  done,  pleading 
for  the  honour  of  Christ  and  for  this  day  of  His  resurrection, 
in  their  sermons,  in  their  laws,  in  their  edicts  ^,  everywhere 
most  fully  and  religiously.  I  thought  to  have  produced 
them  now,  but  I  think  I  have  said  enough  for  once,  and 
the  next  time  by  God's  help  I  shall  end  all. 

To  which  God,  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  ascribe 
we,  &c. 

1  See  Bingham,  xvi.  8.  §  1  ;  Heylyn,  part  ii.  chap.  3.  $  10. 


SEEMON   XIV. 


AT  PA.RIS.      CORAM  DUCB  JACOBO.  SEPTEMBER  11,  1650  '.   [nEW  STYLE.] 

Psalm  cxxix.  5. 
Confundantur  omnes  qui  oderunt  Sion. 
Let  them  be  confounded,  as  many  as  have  evil  will  at  Sion. 

SEEM.       I  HAVE   read  you  a  verse  out  of  a  Psalm  which  I  find 

— ^^ —  cited  by  an  old  provincial  council  of  the  ancient^Fathers  ^> 

•applicable  as  no  less  pertinent  and  applyable  ^  to  the  Church  in  all 

ages  under  Christ,  and  so  in  ours,  than  it  was  in  any  age 

before  under  the  Jews  ". 

Where  the  Psalmist,  as  his  manner  is,  compriseth  under 
one,  the  type  and  the  truth  both;  by  those  things  which 
befel  the  people  of  the  Jews  in  their  Sion,  shadowing  and 
setting  out  those  things  which  would  afterwards  and  other- 
whiles  happen  to  the  Christians  likewise  in  theirs  ^ ;  for 
*  Judaa  Jury  *  was  the  scene,  or  stage,  whereon  the  estate  of  us  all — 
as  we  are  a  society,  either  in  Church  or  kingdom — was 
represented  to  all  posterity. 

There  is  in  it  a  prophecy,  and  a  prayer  %  which  belongs  to 

■Thissermon  was  originally  preached  turn  militanti,  turn  triumphanti  prse- 

by  Cosin  '  at  St.  German's  in  France,  sertim,  in  qua  una  est  occupatio,  nego- 

October  22,  1645,'  but  the  commence-  tium  unum  ....  Sion  et  Hierusalem 

ment    abounding   with    interlineations  allegorice  Ecclesiam  istam    denotant, 

and  erasures,  was  transcribed  before  its  aiiagogice  superiorem  illam  coelestem- 

second  delivery  on  the  occasion  men-  que. — Lorin.  in  Psalmos,  tom.  iii.  p. 

tioned  above.      The   more   important  715. 

variations  between  the  two  transcripts  ^  Pro  ecclesia  proque  ccelesti  beato- 

are  specified  in  the  notes.  rum  domicilio  niystice  passim  exponi- 

•>  Which  the  ancient  Fathers  abroad,  tur,  quemadmodum  aliis  in  locis. — Lo- 
and  after  them  an  old  provincial  council  rin.  in  Ps.  128.5;  tom,  iii.  p.  640. 
here  in  France,  have  judged  no  less  ^  A  prophecy  of  the  evil  and  mis- 
pertinent  to  the  Church  in  all  ages.  chief   that    was  like  to  befall  both   a 

•=  Mystice  conveniunt  haec  Ecclesiae  glorious  Church  and  an  ancient  king- 


The  text  is  both  a  prayer  and  a  prophecy.  191 

them  both,  and  are  both  directed  against  the  enemies  of 
either ;  the  sum  whereof  is,  that  they  who  would  have  Sion 
confounded,  that  is,  Church  and  kingdom  destroyed,  for 
Sion  is  both,  may,  by  the  grace  of  God,  have  the  same  mis- 
chief turned  back  upon  their  own  heads,  and  so  be  destroyed 
and  confounded  themselves. 

Confundantur  omnes,  qui  oderunt  Sion.  A  prayer  and  a  pre- 
diction both,  for  the  words  which  we  read  here,  both  in  our 
Psalter  and  in  our  church  Bibles,  as  a  prayer,  the  translators 
that  were  wont  to  send  us  their  Bibles  here  from  France  *, 
they  received  it  as  a  prediction ;  and,  to  do  them  right,  so 
they  might,  and  so  may  we,  read  it  either  way ;  either  in  the 
optative,  *  So  let  them  be,'  or  in  the  indicative «,  *  So  they 
shall  be'','  for  the  verb  in  the  original  is  of  the  future 
tense.  And  indeed  to  express  their  optative,  or  their  wish- 
ing prayers  in  Hebrew,  they  have  no  other  way  but  this, 
that  hard  it  is  many  times  to  say  whether  that  which  runs 
in  the  future  among  them  be  a  prayer  or  a  prediction; 
and  for  aught  I  know,  it  must  be  left  to  our  discretion 
to  take  which  we  will,  since  it  may  be  both ;  as  in  the 
twenty-first  Psalm,  'The  king  shall  rejoice,'  by  way  ofver. l. 
foretelling,  or  *  Let  the  king  rejoice,'  by  way  of  wishing ; 
and  in  many  places  besides.  It  will  be  best  to  take  it  both 
ways,  so  we  shall  be  certain  not  to  miss  the  prophet's  mean- 
ing. And  though  either  be  well,  either  indicative  or  opta- 
tive, that  both  are  best,  for  both  are  most  true ;  it  is  both 
a  good  prayer,  and  a  good  prophecy;  which  will  likewise  sort 
well  together  by  themselves,  and.  please  us,  if  the  prayer 
does  prove  a  prophecy,  nothiug  better.  For  our  wishes,  if 
they  be  in  earnest,  we  would  always  have  to  be  ominous; 
and  our  prayers  to  be  a  kind  of  prediction  ever. 


doin,  for  Sion  here  is  both,  in  times  to  '  'From  Geneva.'     The  reading  to 

come ;  which  were  not  much  unlike  to  which  Cosin  alludes  is  this ;   'They  that 

such  times  as  these ;  and  a  prayer  of  hate  Zion  shall  be  all   ashamed  and 

returning  that  mischief  back  again  to  turned  backward.' 

the  place  and  persons  from  whence  it  k  Imperative  aut  optative  sumi  haec 

came :  that  they  who  by  their  fiery  and  possunt,  quamvis  Hebraice  sint  futuri 

evil  will  at  Sion  would  have  both  the  temporis   verba   in    indicativo    modo, 

religion  destroyed   and   the   kingdom  Graece  in   imperativo. — Lorin.  in   Ps. 

confounded,    may,    by    the    grace   of  128.  5.  tom.iii,  p.  640. 

God,   have  the  same  mischiefs  upon  ^  See  Poli  Synops.  and  Hammond 

their  own  heads  and   be   confounded  on  this  Psalm. 

themselves. 


192  Division  of  the  subject 

SEEM.  Of  this  text  then,  we  are  to  treat  as  a  prayer,  first,  then  as 
'—  a  prediction. 

A  direct  prayer  it  is ;  but  that  is  not  so  much,  the  man- 
ner of  it  is  all.  And  there  be  two  manner  of  prayers,  either 
for  or  against,  wishing  some  good,  or  wishing  some  evil,  be 
it  of  things  or  of  persons.  This  is  of  the  nature  of  a  prayer 
against  thern. 

Then  secondly,  it  is  not  faintly  or  coldly  said;  but  said 
it  is  with  very  much  vehemence  and  vigour,  as  the  manner 
of  men  is  when  they  are  in  passion  and  anger ;  for  there 
is  a  holy  anger  too,  whereof  otherwhiles  use  may  be  made, 
thereafter  as  the  cause  is  wherewith  it  meets ;  and  this  is 
such  another,  it  is  a  kind  of  prayer  that  they  call  an  im- 
precation ;  confundantur  is  a  kind  of  curse,  an  imprecation, 
or  an  execration,  call  it  which  you  will. 

And  thirdly,  two  things  there  are  in  this  prayer,  (1.)  the 
parties  against  whom  it  is  made,  and  (2.)  the  persons  for 
whose  sake  it  is  made. 

1.  The  parties  against  whom,  are  the  enemies  of  Sion, 
that  is,  of  Church  and  kingdom  both,  for  in  Sion  we  shall 
find  them  both;  and  those  parties  be  many,  and  of  many 
kinds,  whereof  not  a  man  here  is  left  out,  sed  omnes  qui 
oderunt,  where  the  omnes  will  reach  not  only  to  every  private 
man,  but  to  whole  multitudes  besides ;  and  the  oderunt  will 
reach  not  only  to  the  outward  violent  act,  but  to  the  very 
inward  will  itself,  to  '  as  many  as  have  any  evil  will  at  Sion,' 
for  so  our  Church-book  here  hath  rendered  it,  and  we  may 
not  leave  it  out. 

2.  After  these,  the  parties  for  whose  sake  this  prayer  is 
made,  are  those  that  dwell  in  Sion;  and  they  will  prove  to 
be  God  and  the  king :  we  say  it  now,  and  will  prove  it  anon. 
And  thus  far  it  will  go  as  a  prayer. 

Then  should  we  also  look  upon  it  as  a  prediction — but 
that  I  think  we  shall  not  be  able  to  do  so  now ; — for  besides 
that  it  is  a  prayer,  it  is  likewise,  as  I  said,  a  prophetical 
prayer ;  that  so  the  prophet  here  wished,  and,  as  he  wished, 
so  he  foretold ;  and  as  he  foretold,  so  it  came  to  pass,  to  the 
confusion  of  them  that  hated  Sion  ;  so  did,  and  so  may 
do  yet ;  for  this  prayer  or  prediction  was  not  to  be  pent 
up  among  the  Jews  only,  or  to  end  with  them,  but  hath,  and 


The  bidding  of  the  Common  Prayers.  193 

shall  have,  its  force  and  vigour  still  among  us  all,  even  to 

the  world's  end. 

These  are  the  parts.     Of  which  that  we  may  speak  to  the 

honour  of  God  and  the  preservation  of  Sion,  the  Church,  and 

kingdom,  and  His  true  religion  among  us,  before  I  go  any 

further  I  shall  put'  you  in  mind  both  now  and  always  to 

make  your  prayers, 

For  the  estate  of  Christ's  Catholic  Church,  together 
with  the  peace  and  welfare  of  all  Christian  kings  and 
princes,  more  especially — as  by  common  allegiance  we  are 
all  bound,  and  myself  with  others  here  by  more  peculiar 
duty  and  service — for  our''  sovereign  lord  Charles,  by  the 
grace  of  God  king  of  Great  Britain,  France ',  and  Ireland, 
Defender  of  the  Faith,  and  in  his  own  dominions  over  all 
persons  whatsoever,  and  in  all  causes  whatsoever,  supreme 
governor ;  that  God  would  be  pleased  to  preserve  him  in 
his  royal  person,  and  to  protect  him  in  his  royal  dignities, 
and  to  restore  him  to  his  royal  inheritance";  for  our  most 
gracious  queen  M.,  for  our  most  noble  prince  James,  duke 
of  York",  and  all  the  royal  progeny,  for  the  king's  majesty's 
honourable  council  and  all  the  nobility,  for  the  reverend 

'  the  prelates  and  the  ministers  of  the  Church,  for  the 
Universities  of  Cambridge  and  Oxford,  and  all  the  people 
of  the  realm ;  that  they  may  all  come  together  to  serve 
God  in  peace,  to  be  loyal  to  their  king,  and  loving  to 
one  another. 

Rendering  always,  as  we  are  likewise  bound,  our  praise 
and  thanksgiving  for  God's  favours  and  graces  conferred 
upon  His  Church,  for  the  blessed  Fathers  of  our  faith, 
the  saints  and  servants  of  God  who  have  been  the  choice 
vessels  of  His  grace  and  the  shining  lights  of  the  world  in 
their  several  generations  before   us,  and  for  the  happy 

'  The   following   sentence    is    here  and  actions.' 
struck  out.     '  I  shall  first  make  that  ''  '  own'  erased, 

prayer  which  St  Austin  made  before  '  This  word  has  been  added  above  the 

one  of  his  sermons;    that  God  would  line  on  the  revision  of  the  sermon, 
vouchsafe,  quod  uliliter  meditatum  ett  "  Instead  of  the  last  clause,  which 

cor  meum  et  lingua  personal,  what  my  is  added  above  the  line,  the  original 

heart  hath  profitably  thought  on,  that  reading  was, 'and  to  preserve  him  in  his 

my  tongue  shall  utter,  to  bring  it  thence  royal  arms  against  the  fraud  and  in- 

into  your  ears,  and  from  thence  into  justice  of  all  ill  doers,' 
your  hearts,  and  from  thence  into  your  "  Instead  of  James  duke  of  York, 

words,  and  from  thence  into  your  lives  prince  Charles  was  here  mentioned. 


194  That  we  may  pray  against  our  enemies 

SEEM.       departure  of  all  other  His  servants  our  fathers  and  bre- 

xrv. 
'- —      thren  in  the  faith  of  Christ;    most  humbly  beseeching 

Him  that  we  may  continue  in  their  holy  communion  and 

religion  here,  and  that  we  may  at  the  end  be  brought  to 

their  blessed  communion  and  glory  hereafter. 

And  that,  for  His  merits  Who  is  Christ  our  Lord,  the 
Mediator  and  Saviour  of  us  all ;  in  His  name  offering  up 
that  form  of  prayer  which  He  hath  prescribed  us  in  His 
holy  Gospel. 

Our  Father,  &c.,  &c. 

1.  'Let  them  be  confounded.'  I  begin  with  the  prayer. 
But  confundantur  is  a  prayer  and  somewhat  more  be- 
sides; it  is  an  imprecation,  both  precatio  and  imprecaiio- 
Therefore  before  we  say  'Amen'  to  it,  it  will  not  be  amiss 
to  enquire  whether  we  may  lawfully  pray  any  such  prayer, 
or  no. 

I  move  it  the  rather,  because  I  have  heard  it  said  that 
here  our  Church  is  out,  that  it  is  not  warrantable,  that  it 
is  altogether  unsuitable  for  a  Christian — whatever  the  Jews 
did — to  use  such  prayer  or  imprecation  at  all;  to  wish,  as 
here  the  prophet  does,  any  evil-minded  persons  so  much  evil 
as  to  pray  that  they  may  come  to  an  evil  end,  which  is  their 
confundantur,  '  let  them  be  confounded.' 

And  truly  somewhat  it  is  that  they  have  to  say;  for  did 
not  St. Paul  give  us  a  charge  not  to  do  it?   not  to  do  it  to 

Eom.  12.  them  that  did  hurt  to  us  ?  '  Bless  them  that  persecute  you ; 
bless,  I  say,  curse  not;'  that  is,  use  no  imprecations  at  all. 

a  Pet.  2. 21.  And  did  not  St.  Peter  set  us  out  Christ's  own  pattern  against 
it?  Qui,  cum  malediceretur,  nan  maledixit,  Who  wished  not 
their  evil  that  both  wished  and  wrought  Him  all  the  evil 

Jas.3.9,10.  they  could.  Again,  St.  James  tells  us  well  it  becomes  us  not 
that  with  the  same  tongue  we  should  bless  God  and  curse 

Num.  22.    men,  or  pray  for  evil  to  come  upon  them.     '  Come  and  curse 

^jj_  *  '  me  this  people,'  let  that  office  alone  for  Balaam  the  son 
of  Beor;  it  is  an  office  fitter  for  him  than  for  any  of  us. 

2  Sam.  16.  Then  Shimei  did  it ;  it  belongs  to  such  a  miscreant  as  he 
was,  it  belongs  not  to  us.  Balaam's  name  and  his  stand 
upon  record,  upon  the  black  roll,  to  all  posterity;  the  one 
for  doing  of  it,  and  the  other  for  but  intending  to  do  it; 


proved  by  the  example  and  permission  of  Scripture.     195 

and  will  we  be  like-minded  to  them?  All  this  they  have 
against  it. 

And  all  this  we  know ;  yet  all  this  has  been  examined  by 
the  Fathers  of  the  Church  before  now,  and  all  this  is  not  so 
binding  neither  but  that  against  some  persons,  and  in  some 
special  cases,  such  a  prayer  hath  been,  and  may  still  be  used 
well  enough.  May  be  ?  nay,  ought  to  be  otherwhiles.  For 
first,  such  and  so  evil  may  the  persons  be,  as  for  instance, 
saith  St.  Peter,  those  that  despise  governmeut  and  speak  evil  2  Pet.  2. 10. 
of  dignities, — which  is  all  one  with  them  that  have  evil  will 
here  at  Sion — so  evil  may  such  persons  be,  that  in  the  same 
Apostle's  own  words,  they  be  homines  ezsecrandi,  men  that  2  Pet. 2. 14. 
are  to  be  accursed,  and  maledictionis  Jilii,  the  very  sons  and 
subjects  of  malediction.  Thus  execrable  may  their  doings 
be,  that  as  God  Himself  commandeth  Moses,  so  by  Him  He  Deut.  ii. 

29  ■  27  13 

commands  us  all  and  gives  us  licence  and  a  warrant  to  do  it;     '     '    ' 
in  such  a  case  to  go  up  into  mount  Ebal,  and  there  to  do  as 
our  Church  appoints  us  to  do  in  the  commination  ° ;  that  is, 
against   certain  persons  to  pronounce  certain   curses;    the 
priest  is  to  say  maledictus,  and  all  the  people  to  say  '  Amen.* 
He  that  gave  us  the  charge  therefore,  St.  Paul,  not  to  do  it,  Rom.  12. 
must  be  understood  to  have  given  it  against  private  revenge; 
for  notwithstanding  all  his  charge  given,  it  is  well  enough 
known  what  he  himself  did  to  Elymas  the  sorcerer,  who  Acts  13.  8. 
withstood  him  in  his  public  service ;  called  him  the  child  of 
the  devil,  and  struck  him  blind  with  an  imprecation.     And 
he  that  set  us  Christ's  pattern,  St.  Peter,  would  not  be  taken  i  Pet. 2. 21. 
in  any  other  sense;    for  notwithstanding  his   pattern   set 
us,  we  know  all  that  he  used  this  kind  of  imprecation  him- 
self against  Simon  Magus,  and  gave  him  his  confundantur ;  Acts  a  20. 
against  such  it  both  may  be  done,  and  ought  to  be  done. 
Nor  let  the  instance  of  Balaam  and  Shimei  trouble  us ;  they 
were  two  fierce  and  violent  men,  and  they  came  out  to  curse 
them  whom  God  had  blessed,  to  curse  the  ruler  of  His  people.  Num.  23. 
and  to  curse  Sion  itself;   which  brought  therefore  a  curse  22'  ^q^^' 
upon  their  own  heads  for  it.    But  there  were  two  other  men, 
as  meek  men  and  as  mild  as  ever  the  earth  had ;  and  yet,  as 
we  read,  they  came  to  their  imprecations  for  all  that.    Moses 
for  one,  who  prayed  it  against  a  crew  of  rebels  that  they  Num.  16. 

80 
°  Upon  Ash-Wednesday. 

o2 


196  The  evidence  continued. 

SEEM,   should  not  die  the  common  death  of  all  men,  but  go  down 

'- —  quick   into   hell ;    and  David  for   another,  who   prayed   it 

against  a  counseller  of  rebels,  that  cursing  might  come  into 
his  bowels  like  water,  and  like  oil  into  his  bones.  "Witness 
Ps.  109. 18.  first,  one  Psalm  all  of  bitter  imprecations  and  scarce  of  any 
thing  else,  all  penned  against  Achitophel  and  against  all  such 
as  be  like  him;  then  another  against  those  that  were  con- 
federate against  his  crown  and  dignity ;  and  this  verse  is  the 
sum  of  them  both.  But  in  these  Psalms  themselves  they  are 
set  forth  in  such  high  and  passionate  expressions,  that  they 
had  been  held,  both  by  Jews  and  Christians,  to  be  the  most 
heavy  and  bitter  curses  that  were  to  be  found  in  all  the 
volumes  of  the  world  besides.  The  one  is  the  hundred  and 
nineteenth P,  the  other  the  eighty-third^  Psalm;  and  I  am 
apt  to  believe  that  whosoever  shall  take  the  book  into  his 
hands,  and  at  some  retiring-time  read  with  heed  and  mark 
well  against  what  manner  of  persons  those  two  Psalms  of 
imprecations  are  penned,  he  would  love  both  them  and  their 
fellows,  whosoever  they  be,  the  worse  for  it  while  he  lived. 
Judg.5.23.  Now  what  should  I  tell  you  of  the  Angel  of  the  Lord,  of 
the  Lord  Himself,  that  cursed  the  inhabitants  of  Meros,  and 
.  thereby  gave  us  a  warrant  to  do  the  like  after  Him?  that  is, 
that  we  may  lawfully  bring  forth  an  imprecation,  not  only 
against  them  that  are  open  enemies  and  have  an  evil  will  at 
Sion,  but  against  them  likewise  that  are  indifferent  and  bear 
it  no  good  will  at  all.  All  is  thereafter  as  the  cause  is,  and 
as  the  persons  be  against  whom  the  prayer  is  made ;  if  the 
cause  be  right  the  imprecation  is  not  wrong,  and  the  cause 
is  all.  [Now  put  all  this  together  and  it  is  enough,  this, 
notwithstanding  all  that  useth  otherwhiles  to  be  said  against 
it,  to  shew  that  this  kind  of  prayer  is  also  lawful  among 
others,  and  to  justify  the  practice  of  the  Church,  if  at  any 
time  you  meet  with  it  there,  for  it  is  the  practice  of  the 
saints ;  we  may  well  pray  it,  for  herein  we  do  but  tread  the 

P  De  argumento  antiquorum  exposi-  rerum    malarum,    sub    maledictionum 

torum  recepta  sententia  est  Judam  esse  forma,   praedictiones.  —  Lorin.   in   Ps. 

Christi  proditorem  praecipue,  turn  alios  108.  1.  torn.  iii.  p.  232. 
ejusdem  persecutores  Judaeos;   conse-  i  Amplector  magis  uuiversalem  sen- 

quenter  etiam  similes  istis  alios,  qui  sum,  et  cum  Euthemyo,  Nicephoroque 

proditorie  violent  charitatem;  ita  ut  in  aio   convenire   psalmum    cunctis    pro 

Judam  praesertim,  deinde  in  alios  etiam  Christo  persecutionem  patientibus,  — 

maledictiones   hie  pronuntientur,  aut  Lorin.  in  Ps,  83.  1.  torn.  ii.  p.  575. 


Imprecatory  prayers  must  be  used  with  caution.       197 

steps  of  our  holy  Fathers,  and  follow  them  who  were  fol- 
lowers herein  of  God  Himself'.] 

Nor  need  we,  nor  will  we,  go  out  of  the  text  to  seek  it. 

For  first,  you  will  mark  it  here,  that  it  is  for  the  safety  of 
Sion,  for  that  cause,  and  then  that  it  is  against  them  that 
have  an  evil  will  to  Sion,  against  such  persons  only  and  for 
their  confusion  who  either  violently  oppose  it  or  secretly 
undermine  it.  In  which  cases  it  is  not  only  lawful  but 
needful,  not  only  may  be  done  but  sometimes  ought  to  be 
done;  for  prayers  are  to  be  made  for  Sion,  that  is,  once  and 
for  all  that  belong  to  it.  But  for  Sion  we  cannot  pray,  not 
as  we  should  do,  unless  we  pray  withal  against  them  that  are 
enemies  to  Sion ;  who,  if  they  may  have  their  will,  will  be 
the  utter  confusion  of  Sion  itself.  Therefore  in  this  case, 
confundantur  qui  oderunt  is  no  more  than  needs,  and  is 
plainly  forced  from  us,  specially  then,  when  we  have  scarce 
any  other  way  left  but  that,  as  with  the  Jews  it  was  the  case 
often,  and  is  not  with  us  much  uulike  it  now  *.  All  is  there- 
after as  the  necessity  and  the  occasion  or  the  cause  is ;  if 
that  be  right,  we  may  be  sure  the  prayer,  and  this  kind  of 
prayer  too,  will  not  be  wrong. 

And  indeed  this  is  the  chief  point  of  advice  for  us,  that  we 
use  it  not  but  when  we  are  forced  to  it ;  that  we  take  not 
a  licet  for  it  without  an  oportet  come  before  it ;  that  is,  that 
we  use  it  not  upon  every  slight  and  trifling  occasion,  as  our 
evil  custom  is,  against  every  thing  that  comes  cross  to  our 
own  private  humour.  But  when  the  public  safety  of  the 
Church  and  kingdom,  when  the  safety  of  Sion  and  the  bad 
practices  of  Sion's  enemies  shall  require  and  exact  it  at  our 
hands,  then  may  we  be  bold  to  do  it.  And  this  advice  is  not 
amiss,  the  rather  because  our  common  and  fearful  profana- 
tion of  this  kind  of  prayer,  our  bitter  curses  and  imprecations 
that  come  from  us  daily  where  no  need  is,  may  well  be 
thought  to  be  one  main  reason,  among  others,  that  where 
and  when  need  is,  the  very  lawful  use  of  it  in  our  prayers 
finds  no  better  effect  with  us  than  it  does. 

Again,  it  is  not  amiss  we  took  notice  of  an  old  saying 

"    The     passage     included    within  "  It  will  be  remembered  that   this 

brackets  appears  to  have  been  marked      sermon    was    preached    to    the    exiled 
for  omission.  English  court  then  resident  in  Paris. 


198  Against  whom  we  may  lawfully  pray. 

SEEM,   among  the  Hebrews  which  is  pertinent  to  this  case.     They 

'■ —  had  in  their  country  two  mountains,  one  where  they  went  to 

bless,  at  mount  Garizim*,  and  another  where  they  went  to 
curse,  at  mount  Ebal ;  of  which  two  their  proverb  was,  that 
they  came  time  enough  to  mount  Ebal  that  crept  thither, 
but  to  mount  Garizim  that  they  could  not  leap  too  fast ;  that 
is,  that  men  must  be  swift  to  do  the  one  and  slow  to  do  the 
other.  To  conclude  this  point ;  we  are  then,  as  not  to  be  so 
forward  to  leap  into  mount  Ebal  and  fall  to  our  prayers  and 
imprecations  there,  upon  every  thing  that  angers  us,  so  not 
to  be  so  froward  neither,  as  when  we  are  directed  and  bidden, 
go,  not  to  come  there  at  all,  but  to  be  well  advised  ere  we 
go;  and  then  we  may  both  safely  go  thither,  and  go  to 
some  purpose.  The  cause  it  is,  and  the  heed  it  is  against 
what  persons  it  is  made,  which  maketh  the  prayer  lawful; 
otherwise  if  it  be  either  used  without  cause,  or  done  without 
care,  it  will  be  done  amiss,  and  have  little  or  no  effect 
at  all ;  therefore  to  know  well  both  the  men  and  the  matter 
against  whom  we  do  it,  and  then  we  may  say  this  prayer 
every  syllable  of  it,  confundantur  omnes  qui  oderunt  8ion. 

2.  The  special  point  of  advice  then  being  thus  provided 
for,  it  will  concern  us  now  to  know  the  parties  well  against 
whom  we  are  to  pray  it,  and  to  take  some  notice  of  them ; 
and  we  cannot  better  know  them  than  if  we  take  our  light 
from  this  book,  and,  as  they  shall  have  reference  to  this  text, 
apply  them  as  you  shall  see  cause. 

They  oifer  themselves  to  us  here  in  a  general  term,  '  as 
many  as  have  evil  will  at  Sion ;'  but  those  many  are  many 
and  sundry  ways  to  be  known  by  the  characters  that  are 
elsewhere  given  of  them. 

You  will  know  them  the  better  if  you  know  first,  what 
Sion  is,  and  how  far  it  extends.  I  told  you  before  that 
Sion  would  be  found  to  be  both  the  house  of  God  and  the 
house  of  David,  that  is,  both  the  religion  of  the  temple  and 
the  government  of  the  kingdom ;  Church  and  state  both  ; 
the  Church  of  God  and  the  state  of  the  king ;  so  that  they 
which  have  any  evil  will  at  either  of  these  are  the  parties 
here  against  whom  this  prayer  is  to  go  out. 

First,  and  to  prove  what  I  say,  I  demand  first,  why  the 

'  Deut.  27.  12,  13  ;  see  Seldeni  0pp.,  torn.  ii.  p.  1550. 


Sion  esteemed  by  God  for  His  temple's  sake.  199 

prophet  hath  made  choice  of  Sion  only,  to  name  that  ?  why 
not  Judah  and  Israel  ?  or  why  not  Jerusalem,  as  well  as 
Sion  ?  for  they  were  the  greater  places  of  the  two,  and  the 
more  general  by  far,  and,  as  one  would  think,  the  more 
worthy  to  be  named.  Why  then  is  not  the  prayer  and 
imprecation  made  against  the  haters  of  them  ?  but  against 
those  that  have  an  evil  will  at  Sion  only  ? 

It  should  seem  there  was  somewhat  more  in  Sion  than 
there  was  in  all  the  rest,  somewhat  more  to  be  regarded 
there,  than  any  where  else ;  the  choice  is  made  of  Sion 
before  them  all.  Yet  to  give  Jerusalem  and  Judah,  the  city 
and  the  country,  their  due,  it  is  not  exclusive  this  of  either; 
but  yet  it  is  preferred  before  them  both,  for  somewhat  that 
there  is  in  Sion  more  than  in  the  city  and  country  too,  and 
that  are  they  to  bear  as  they  can ;  for  it  is  not  in  our. power 
to  mend  the  text  for  them,  nor  in  theirs,  neither.  The  pro- 
phet hath  made  choice  of  Sion,  and  we  may  not  change  his 
word,  nor  teach  him  how  to  use  his  terms.  He  names  nothing 
but  Sion.  I  ask  then,  what  was  Sion?  what  was  it  but 
a  hill,  a  little  hill  in  Jerusalem,  with  two  tops  upon  it,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  city  ?  And  what  reason  then  was  there  that 
this  hill  should  be  so  much  magnified  as  it  was  ?  seldom  or 
never  mentioned  in  Scripture  but  with  honour  and  regard 
had  to  it  ?  Truly  no  reason  in  the  world  but  this,  that  upon 
one  top  of  this  mountain,  the  temple  of  God  was  built ;  and 
upon  another,  the  throne  of  the  king.  For  these  two  it  was 
that  it  is  here  named  before  all  the  rest,  and  so  that  Sion  is 
80  much  spoken  of  and  so  much  made  of,  all  the  Psalms  and  Ps.2.6;  48- 
all  the  prophets  over;  it  is  first  and  chiefly,  for  the  temple's  eg.'ss,  &c.' 
sake,  for  God's  religion  and  service  that  was  there  kept  up  Jg  \'  &c' 
among  them ;  for  Whose  sake  it  is,  even  for  His  Church's 
sake,  as  poor  and  low  a  regard  as  the  world  has  for  it  now, 
that  Sion  is  said  to  be  His  holy  mountain,  a  fair  place,  and  Pa.  2. 6. 
the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  that  God  is  well  known  in  her  ps.  48. 2, 3. 
palaces  as  a  sure  refuge,  and  that  He  loveth  the  gates  ofPs.  87. 2. 
Sion  more  than  all  the  dwellings  of  Jacob  besides,  loves  it 
more,  and  therefore  will  be  the  more  displeased  with  them 
here  that  love  it  not.  For  in  that  it  is  chiefly  mentioned,  it 
shews  both  what  is  chiefly  regarded  by  God,  and  what  is 
chiefly  also  to  be  regarded  by  us,  as  we  know  it  was  by  them 


200  WTio  those  are  who  are  here  prayed  against. 

SEEM,  that  wept  at  the  remembrance  of  it,  when  they  were  forced 
■  to  be  absent  from  it,  '  we  sat  down  and  wept,  when  we  re- 

membered thee,  oh  Sion;'  that  their  greatest  grief  when 
they  could  not  come  at  it,  and  their  greatest  joy  when  news 
came  that  they  should  return  thither  again. 

Where  there  lays  a  note,  by  the  way,  for  their  joy  ;  it  was 
not,  saith  the  Psalm,  quia  in  domos  nostras  ibimus ; — they  did 
not  listen,  as  we  listen  for  our  news,  to  hear  chiefly  when  we 
shall  go  every  one  to  his  own  house  and  to  his  own  honour 
and  lands  again,  and  I  am  afraid  fare  the  worse  for  it  too, — 
Ps. 42. 2;  but,  quia  in  domum  Domini  ibimus,  'when  we  shall  go  into 
the  house  and  honour  of  the  Lord,  and  appear  every  one  of 
us  before  the  God  of  gods  in  Sion.'  That  was  their  joy  and 
that  their  chiefest  desire,  of  all  other,  to  have  the  true  and 
pure  services  of  God  set  up  at  home  in  peace  among  them  ; 
and  if  our  thoughts  went  more  that  way  than  they  do, 
certainly  God  would  be  better  pleased  with  us  than  He  is. 
Is.  62. 1.  Who,  as  He  hath  given  us  His  promise  for  it,  that  for  Sion's 
sake  and  for  tlie  house  of  the  Lord  our  God,  if  we  would  set 
our  affections  there.  He  will  seek  to  do  us  good, — so  for 
want  of  those  affections,  our  affections  to  the  gates  of  Sion, 
it  is  still  to  be  feared  lest  we  be  yet  kept  back  from  the 
dwellings  of  Jacob. 

In  the  meanwhile  clear  it  is  to  you,  who  be  the  chief  per- 
sons that  are  said  here  to  have  an  evil  will  at  Sion ;  that 
they  be  the  maligners  of  the  Church,  the  haters  of  His  temple, 
and  the  enemies  of  His  true  religion,  against  whom  this 
confundantur  may  by  good  warrant  be  given  out,  and  the 
prayer  go  forth  against  every  one  that  loves  not  the  peace 
and  prosperity  of  thera  all.  For  as  for  God  Himself,  He  is 
too  high  for  them,  either  for  any  good  they  can  do  Him  or 
for  any  evil  or  enmity  that  can  reach  Him ;  therefore  He 
reckons  of  no  enemies  but  His  Church's  enemies,  or  at  least 
of  none  so  much,  as  being  that  for  which  we  were  all,  world 
and  all,  made,  and  by  which  we  and  all  the  world  are  still 
upholden;  for  were  this  Sion,  this  Church  of  His  once 
gathered,  the  world  would  dissolve  straight;  nor  is  it  long 
neither,  before  we  are  like  to  hear  of  it,  when  there  be  no 
more  enemies  to  molest  it.  These  are  one  sort  of  them. 
(2.)  But  Sion  had  two  tops ;  as  one  whereon  the  temple 


The  state  cannot  exist  without  the  Church.  201 

stood,  so  another  whereon  the  throne  and  palace  of  the  king 
were  situated.  Posui  regem  in  monte  sanctitatis  mece, '  I  have  ver.  6. 
set  My  king  also  upon  My  holy  hill  of  Sion,*  as  we  read  in 
the  second  Psalm ;  which,  though  it  was  mystically  under- 
stood of  Christ,  yet  it  was  literally  true  of  David.  So  near 
neighbourhood  was  there  between  the  king  and  the  Church, 
as  there  was  between  his  palace  and  the  temple.  They  stood 
both  upon  one  and  the  same  hill. 

And  it  cannot  but  weigh  much  with  all  that  shall  weigh 
this  point  well,  that  kings  are  taken  into  so  near  a  society 
and  conjunction  with  God  in  Sion,  that  the  league  is  so  firm 
and  the  knot  so  strait  between  them,  as  one  cannot  have  ill 
will  to  the  one  but  he  must  have  it  to  the  other  also.  So 
they  that  are  enemies  to  David  or  the  king,  are  enemies  to 
God  and  to  Sion. 

Another  reason  why  Sion  is  here  mentioned,  that  all  may 
know  what  regard  they  are  to  have  of  kings,  whom  God 
hath  placed  so  close  to  Himself,  as  there  is  but  one  name 
here  both  for  His  Church  and  for  them,  so  inseparably  are 
they  linked  together,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  one  so  much 
depending  upon  the  welfare  of  the  other. 

I  cannot  tell — some  certain  men  may  entertain  what 
speculations  they  please — to  think  that  David's  throne  may 
stand  well  enough  though  the  temple  be  pulled  down,  or  the 
Church  destroyed;  but  when  we  come  at  any  time  to  see 
these  speculations  of  theirs  brought  into  practice,  to  vievv 
them  in  the  fore-past  ages  of  the  world,  or  to  look  upon  them 
in  these  days  of  ours  and  see  how  we  like  them  now,  sure 
we  are  we  cannot  find  it  so.  Indeed,  experience,  daily  and 
sad  experience,  hath  taught  us  that  the  safety  of  Sion  de- 
pends upon  the  two  hills  of  Sion;  and  that  they  that  are 
not  for  both  are,  to  speak  truth,  for  neither,  but  like  to  carry 
Sion  into  Babel  and  to  turn  all  into  confusion.  Against  such 
well  and  fitly  may  we  pray  this  prayer,  and  say  confundantur 
to  all  of  them. 

So  have  we  two  manner  of  persons  that  be  here  meant ; 
but  there  is  yet  somewhat  more  in  the  text  against  them. 

(3.)  They  are  said  here  to  be  many,  nay  they  are  said  to 
be  all,  omnes  qui  oderunt,  not  a  man  left  out.  Where,  that 
we  may  take  all  in,  we  will  take  omnes  in  the  two  several 


202  '  Vox  populV  not  always  *  Vox  Dei.' 

SEEM,  notions  or  acceptions  of  the  word,  either  omnes,  collective, 

'■ —  in  a  sense  collective  of  all  together,  or  omnes,  distributive,  in 

a  sense  distributive  of  the  sundry  and  divers  kinds  of  them, 
of  them  that  be  enemies  unto  Sion. 

From  the  first  acception  this  we  have,  that  it  extends  not 
only  to  single  and  private  persons,  but  reacheth  to  whole 
multitudes,  be  they  never  so  many ;  omnes  will  serve  to  take 
in  cities  and  towns  and  countries  both,  even  the  whole  body 
of  the  people,  and  all  that  would  be  independent  of  any,  and 
suffer  neither  God  nor  the  king  to  rule  them.  It  hath  been 
thought,  and  it  hath  been  taught  likewise,  that  vox  populi 
might  carry  all,  was  as  good  as  vox  Dei,  might  come  up  into 
mount  Sion  in  multitudes,  and  there  do  with  religion  and 
government  what  they  pleased  themselves.  The  prophet  here 
foresaw  what  it  would  come  to,  that  the  body  and  multitudes 
of  the  people  might  chance  this  way  to  take  a  liberty  to 
themselves,  and  think  to  be  privileged  by  their  very  number ; 
therefore  to  make  sure,  he  puts  in  a  number  here  that 
encloseth  them  all;  for  be  they  many  or  be  they  few,  as 
many  as  they  be  omnes  will  exempt  none.  And  let  them 
look  to  it  that  think  to  bear  themselves  out  and  to  avoid  it 
with  company;  there  is  nothing  so  near  a  confundantur  as 
the  multitude. 

2.  But  from  the  second  acception  of  omnes,  they  are 
brought  in  every  one  in  his  kind.  I  will  but  name  them 
briefly.  The  Jews  had  not  a  few  of  them,  and  I  think  we 
have  had  as  many.  For  first  they  had  the  sons  of  Belial, 
who  lived  within  their  own  quarters;  and  those  were  men 
that  had  no  religion  at  all  and  cared  neither  for  the  temple 
of  God  nor  for  God  Himself.  We  call  them  the  atheists, 
the  worst  enemies  that  we,  or  they,  had;  for  I  wish  the 
like  were  not  to  be  found  in  our  Israel. 

(2.)  Then  they  had  the  children  of  Edom,  a  kind  of  wicked 
and  spiteful  men,  a  people  that  neighboured"  upon  them  and 
were  somewhat  allied  to  them  besides,  but  such  mortal — such 
immortal — haters^  of  Sion  and  of  the  religion  professed  there, 
as  that  we  are  told  by  many  of  the  old  writers,  both  Jews 
and  Christians,  that  this  verse,  and  this  Psalm,  was  penned 

»  Relandi    Palest,   p.   66  ;    Saliani  "  Saliani  Annal.  a.m.  2583.  §  23. 

Annales,  a.m.  2546.  §  4.  seqq. ;  Loiin.  torn.  iii.  p.  745. 


Enumeration  of  the  enemies  of  Sion.  203 

of  chief  purpose  against  themy.  I  will  give  you  a  note 
or  two  of  them,  that  you  may  know  both  them  and  their 
venemous  natures.  First,  they  were  the  wickedest  natured 
people  under  the  sun,  and  if  ever  there  were  any  devils  upon 
earth  they  were  the  men ;  which  was  the  original  of  the 
Hebrew  proverb,  that  if  the  devil  would  choose  to  be  of  any 
country,  he  would  choose  to  be  an  Edomite.  For  no  place 
on  earth  resembled  hell  more  for  all  manner  of  malice  and 
wickedness,  as  we  may  read  of  it  in  the  prophet  Malachi,  Mai.  i.  i, 
than  that  country  did.  Then  were  they  the  nearest  to  their  °" 
borders,  and  the  nearest  akin  to  the  Jews  of  all  nations  be- 
sides, and  so  should  have  been  their  best  friends,  and  have 
borne  no  evil  will  to  their  Sion ;  but  the  quarrel  was  that  the 
Jews  had  a  larger  and  a  better  country  by  far  than  they,  the 
Edomites,  had,  and  that  their  temple  was  too  much  talked 
on  abroad,  got  away  the  glory  from  them  all.  From  whence  Rom.  9. 6. 
grew  their  envy ;  and  an  enemy  out  of  envy,  though  never 
so  near  a  neighbour,  nor  never  so  near  akin,  proves  ever  to 
be  the  worst.  Yet  once  more,  they  were  always  waiting  to 
do  Sion  a  mischief,  and  when  they  were  not  able  to  do  it 
alone  of  themselves,  they  set  on  others  from  abroad,  and 
then  came  in  and  helped  them;  and  when  the  temple  was 
plundered  and  fire  set  upon  the  holy  places,  they  were  the 
men  that  cried  out  so  fast  'Down  with  it  to  the  ground,  Ps.  137. 7. 
down  with  it,*  and  let  not  a  stone  remain.  For  the  next 
words  of  the  Psalmist  are,  *  Remember  the  children  of  Edom, 
O  Lord,  how  they  said,'  as  he  says  there,  and  for  so  saying 
gives  forth  this  confundantur  here  against  them. 

(3.)  But  thirdly,  their  next  enemies  were  them  of  Babel, 
men  of  another  country  and  another  religion,  and  I  number 
them  among  the  enemies  of  the  Church  (though  they  did  the 
kingdom  too  all  the  mischief  they  might)  not  so  much  for  Jer.  21.  7. 
the  spoils  of  the  temple,  that  were  carried  thither  at  the 
captivity,  as  for  the  cruelty  that  was  used  against  them  in 
matters  of  religion,  when  they  must  either  fall  down  before 
an  image  and  do  as  they  did  in  all  things,  that  is,  be  of  the 
new  religion  and  follow  the  new  laws  that  Nebuchadnezzar  Dan.  3.  2, 
and  his  captains  had  lately  set  up,  or  endure  the  trial  of  the 
fiery  furnace ;  ye  know  who  used  to  do  so  by  us.   They  come 

^  Lorin.  in  Ps.  torn.  iii.  p.  636. 


204  Suffering  is  the  privilege  of  God's  people. 

SEEM,  all  out  of  Babylon,  but  'Babel'  is  'confusion.*     Against  all 
'■ —  such  it  is  lawful  to  say  a  confundantur. 


(4.)  Besides  these,  Sion  had  others  also  that  bare  it  no 
good  will  at  home  neither,  who  by  raising  up  factions  and 
schisms  among  themselves  thereby  disturbed  that  peace 
and  unity  of  the  Church  which  the  prophet  calls  the  bless- 

Ps.  133.  8.  ing  and  the  dew  of  Sion.     Of  whom  utinam  abscindantur, 

Gal.  6. 12.  saith  the  Apostle,  qui  conturbant  vos ;  where  we  have  St. 
Paul's  warrant  that  this  prayer  may  be  said  in  the  New 
Testament  as  well  as  in  the  Old,  both  against  heretics  and 
against  schismatics  that  raise  tumults  in  religion  and  dis- 
quiet the  peace  of  Christ's  Church ;   a  kind  of  people  that 

Ps.  60.  2.  do  nothing  else  but  study  to  maintain  their  own  faction,  and 
make  the  breaches  of  Sion  wider  than  they  are  already. 

To  these  might  many  more  be  yet  added  than  have  been 
named,  but  you  know  them  as  well  as  I,  what  manner  of 
enemies  and  persons  they  are  of  whom  this  Psalm  was  made, 
and  against  whom  this  prayer  may  be  said,  no  less  than  it 
was  against  the  other.  The  conclusion  would  be,  that  against 
them  all,  all  are  bound  to  say  'Amen'  to  this  prayer.  And 
in  the  name  of  God,  so  let  it  be. 

In  the  meanwhile,  let  it  not  seem  strange  to  us  that  such 
enemies  there  are,  for  Sion  will  never  be  without  them,  and 
the  best  men  on  earth  have  been  put  to  their  trial  with  them. 
It  is  some  adversity  that  we  suffer  from  them,  but  it  is  sors 
sanctorum,  it  hath  been  the  lot  of  many  a  saint  of  God  before 
us,  and  of  far  more  worth  and  dignity  than  any  we  are,  to 

Heb.  11.  be  in  adversity,  to  be  persecuted,  afflicted,  tormented,  to  be 
robbed  of  goods,  and  lands,  and  lives  and  all.  Nor  did  they 
love  Sion,  either  Church  or  kingdom,  ever  a  whit  the  worse 
for  it  all  the  while. 

Sion  God  loved  and  favoured  very  high,  yet,  how  dear 
soever  Sion  is  in  His  sight,  it  had  no  promise  made  but  that 

Acts  13.      such  kind  of  enemies  it  should  otherwhiles   meet  withal. 

22 

Even  king  David  himself,  a  man  after  God's  own  heart,  he 
had  them,  had  those  that  persecuted,  hated  him  gratis,  hated 
him  though  they  had  many  favours  done  them  by  him,  and 
though  they  were  fed  with  his  milk  yet  was  he  bitten  by  them 
for  all  that.  Facient  enim  quod  suum  est  iniquitatis  filii,  saith 
St.  Austin,  *  the  sons  of  wickedness  will  be  doing  their  kind,' 


Practical  inferences  from  the  subject. 


205 


though  it  be  against  king  David  or  against  anjs  king  besides, 
though  it  be  against  Christ  Himself.  Let  not  this  make  us 
stumble  either  in  our  religion  or  loyalty,  but  that  we  may  be 
firm  to  our  trial,  and  constant  to  our  profession ;  still,  above 
all,  loving  the  gates  of  our  Sion,  that  is,  of  our  religion, 
more  than  all  our  other  dwellings  in  Jacob  ;  which,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  may  be  a  fair  means  to  bring  us  back  again 
both  to  the  one  aud  to  the  other,  there,  if  it  be  His  blessed 
will,  to  serve  Him  in  peace  and  piety  all  the  days  of  our 
life,  that  so  serving  Him  we  may  in  the  end  of  our  days  be 
translated  from  our  dwellings  here  below  to  His  everlasting 
tabernacles  above*.     To  which,  &c. 


*  The  following  passage,  originally 
introduced  here,  has  afterwards  been 
omitted. 

And  that  shall  we  come  to,  not  to 
fail,  if  we  can  but  take  order  that  while 
we  be  here,  we  prepare  ourselves  to  be 
temples  for  Him,  that  He  may  have 
His  dwelling  in  us,  as  He  hath  in  Sion. 
At  Salem  is  His  tabernacle,  and  His 
dwelling  in  Sion.  Our  bodies,  as  we 
use  the  matter,  many  of  us,  are  far 
from  being  His  temples,  shops  of  vanity 
and  thrones  of  pride  rather,  and  I  know 
not  well  what  to  say  of  them. 

But  a  course  must  be  taken  that 
while  we  are  here  we  make  both  Sions 
and  temples  of  them  for  the  living  God 
to  inhabit ;  and  that  by  His  grace  may 
we  do,  and  no  way  sooner  than  if  we 
love  the  service  of  His  temple  well ; 
love  it,  aud  resort  to  it,  and  be  often  at 


it.  Of  that  service  this  is  the  highest, 
that  we  see  here  before  us.  And  sure, 
if  ever  we  have  any  thing  of  Sion,  any 
thing  of  a  temple  in  us,  then  it  is  when 
we  are  duly  and  devoutly  employed, 
they  and  we,  in  His  worship  and  ser- 
vice ;  specially  in  this  service,  when  we 
cleanse  the  house  and  prepare  our  bodies 
and  souls  to  receive  His  blessed  Body 
and  Blood.  Then  are  we  His  temple 
in  Sion,  and  He  dwelleth  in  us.  From 
whence  if  by  defiling  that  temple  we 
expel  Him  not  again.  He  will  never 
leave  us  until  He  hath,  as  I  said,  trans- 
lated us  unto  His  eternal  temple  in 
heavenly  places. 

To  which  He,  of  His  infinite  mercy 
vouchsafe  to  bring  us  all,  that  we  may 
all  give  glory  and  honour  to  him  for 
evermore.     Amen. 


SERMON  XV. 


PABIS,    FEB.  12,  1651,  [new   STYLE]   DOMINICA  SEXAGESIM^. 

The  word  of  God  which  we  heard  read  but  now  in 

Genesis  iii.  13. 

Et  dixit  Dominus  Deus  ad  mulierem,  8fC. 

And  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  woman,  What  is  this  that 
thou  hast  done  ?  And  the  woman  said,  The  serpent  be- 
guiled me,  [and  I  did  eat."] 

SEEM,       A  TEXT  whcreof  I  have  made  choice  to-day  to  preach, 

'- —  because  it  is  a  part,  and  the  chiefest  part,  of  that  lesson 

whereof  the  Church  hath  made  choice  this  day  to  read  ^. 

Before  I  begin  with  the  text,  I  will  first  say  somewhat 
of  the  intent  and  reason  that  the  Church  had  thus  to  order 
this  lesson  this  next  Sunday  after  Septuagesima ;  for  there 
now  we  are. 

I  ask  then  concerning  this  order,  first.  Why  these  days 
have  this  appellation,  and  we  are  thus  suddenly  set  back  for 
our  lessons,  both  this  Sunday  and  the  last,  from  the  pro- 
phecies of  Isaiah,  whom  we  read  before  at  the  Advent,  to 
the  beginning  of  Genesis,  which  we  read  you  now,  all  the 
Septuagesima  till  towards  Easter. 

It  was  a  question,  whereof,  when  they  were  at  a  loss 
about  it  here  in  France,  Charlemaine  the  king  here  sent  his 
letters  into  England,  more  than  eight  hundred  years  since^ 
for  in  those  days  the  service  of  the  Church  was  wont  to  be 
a  part  of  the  king's  care,  and  from  thence,  from  the  Church 
of  England,  he  had  his  resolution  given  him,  by  one  of 

'  The  third  chapter  of  Genesis  is  appointed  for  the  first  lesson  of  the  morning 
service  on  Sexagesima  Sunday. 


Principle  of  the  selection  of  the  Sunday  lessons.       207 

venerable  Bede's  scholars  ^  a  man  well  known  to  the  world, 
a  doctor  of  our  own  Church,  and  the  greatest  both  for 
learning  and  religiou  that  all  the  churches  of  the  world 
then  had  living  amongst  them. 

I  move  it  the  rather  that  you  may  know,  first,  it  was  no 
new  order  this,  for  it  was  ancient  even  then ;  so  ancient,  that 
in  this  country  so  long  ago,  they  were  to  seek  both  for  the 
beginning  and  for  the  reason  of  it.  And  then  to  let  you  see 
that  the  Church  hath  ordered  nothing  in  this  kind  but  she 
is  able  to  shew  a  good  cause  why.  For  the  Church's  '^  inten- 
tion is  to  teach  us,  by  the  very  order  and  method  of  her 
public  service  through  the  whole  year,  what  her  doctrine 
is  concerning  the  fundamental  and  necessary  points  of  our 
Christian  religion  through  our  whole  lives ;  and  therefore 
she  begins  her  yearly  office  with  Christ's  advent,  Christ's 
nativity,  and  Christ's  epiphany  or  manifestation  to  the  world; 
for  that  is  our  chief  and  fundamental  point  of  all  the  rest. 
And  during  all  that  time,  she  reads  us  the  prophet  Isaiah, 
who  speaks  of  Christ  as  if  he  had  lived  in  Christ's  time  ;  and 
yet  he  wrote  of  Him  six  hundred  "^  years  before  He  was  born, 
none  so  clearly  as  he ;  therefore  is  he  read  then  to  the  end 
of  Christ's  epiphany.  But  when  this  is  done,  because  it  is  no 
less  needful  for  us  to  take  notice  of  that  universal  sin  and  cor- 
ruption of  the  world,  which  being  wrought  there  at  first  by 
the  suggestion  of  the  devil,  was  the  cause  of  Christ's  coming 
and  appearing  in  the  world,  therefore  having  set  forth  the  one, 
begun  in  the  New  Testament,  she  sends  us  back  to  the  other, 
which  was  the  beginning  of  the  Old,  there  to  reflect  upon 
the  miserable  ruin  and  fall  of  man  in  the  first  Adam,  that  we 
might  the  better  apprehend  our  own  want,  and  look  for  our 
repair  again  in  the  second  Adam,  which  was  Christ  Himself. 
For  this  cause  are  we  now  turned  back  to  the  beginning  of 
Genesis,  to  the  original  cause  and  beginning  of  all  sin  and 

^  Reference  is  here  made  to  Alcuin,  panded  in  Cosin's  note  entitled,  '  Ratio 
the  friend  of  Charlemagne ;  but  Cosiri  ordinis  Evangeliorum  de  Tempore  per 
is  in  error  in  asserting  that  he  was  totius  anni  curriculum,*  which  occurs 
educated  by  the  venerable  Beda ;  see  in  his  observations  upon 'The  Collects, 
the  life  of  Alcuin  prefixed  to  the  edition  Epistles,  and  Gospels  to  be  used.' 
of  his  works,  by  Froben,  vol.  i.  p.  xvi.  ^  This  is  considerably  understated, 
§'xi.  ed.  1777.  The  letter  of  {Alcuin  for  according  to  the  chronology  of 
may  be  seen  in  the  same  volume,  p.  85;  archbishop  Ussher,  the  most  remark- 
it  was  written  a.d.  798.  able  of  these  prophecies  were  uttered 

<^  See  this  statement  more  fully  ex-  about  712  years  B.C. 


208     Meaning  of  the  lessons  from  Septuagesima  to  Easter, 

SEEM,  mischief  upon  the  earth;  for  he  that  is  not  sent  thitherto 

'■ —  look  upon  his  ruin,  and  to  be  rightly  affected  with  it  too,  in 

the  first  Adam,  will  be  nothing  the  better,  the  worse  rather, 
for  the  coming  of  the  second ;  that  is,  he  that  apprehends 
not  his  sin,  will  never  take  hold  of  his  Saviour,  but  have  as 
little  sense  of  the  one  as  he  has  of  the  other.  And  yet  this 
sin  it  is,  if  we  look  not  to  it,  that  will  destroy  us  all;  nothing 
to  which  we  have  such  need  to  be  sent ;  nothing  from  which 
we  have  so  much  need  to  be  saved  ;  nothing  for  which  Christ 
came  into  the  world  to  save  us,  but  to  save  us  from  that. 
As  much  account  therefore  as  we  make  of  Him  and  His  com- 
ing into  the  world,  so  much  reflection  are  we  to  make  like- 
wise upon  that  sin,  and  from  that,  upon  all  other  sins  that 
brought  Him  into  the  world.  And  this  is  the  reason  that 
now  we  read  you  the  book  of  Genesis  ^,  where  that  sin  is  re- 
corded, and  where  you  may  see  the  first  persons  of  the  world, 
from  whom  we  all  descend,  banished  out  of  paradise  for  it, 
to  the  servitude  and  afflictions  of  this  life.  And  here  comes 
in  our  Septuagesima;  whereof  this  Sunday  is  a  part. 

Septuagesima  is  a  state  of  servitude  and  affliction,  that  the 
chiefest  of  Adam's  posterity  had  seventy  years  together  in 
Babylon.  When  for  their  sin  they  were  cast  out  of  their  own 
country,  it  was  a  remembrance,  that,  for  us,  and  of  Adam's 
being  cast  out  of  God's  paradise.  For  that  ejection  of  his 
from  thence  put  both  him,  and  us,  into  the  state  and  con- 
dition wherein  now  we  are,  the  condition  of  a  Septuagesima 
servitude,  that  is,  of  captivity  and  thraldom  under  sin  and 
affliction  all  our  life  long ;  for  so  long  is  usually  the  term  of 
a  man's  life.  That,  and  this,  and  the  two  other  Sundays  that 
follow  it,  all  putting  of  us  in  mind  where  we  are,  whiles  we 
are  in  our  several  ages,  under  the  dominion  of  sin  and  the 
mastery  of  Satan,  to  look  after  Christ  and  His  coming  to  put 
us  into  a  better  estate ;  that  when  these  days  are  done,  we 
may  be  brought  out  of  this  exile  to  His  Easter,  as  it  stands 
here  in  the  order  of  our  book,  which  is  His  glory  and  resur- 
rection: and  so  have  you  a  reason  and  an  account  given 
you  of  the  Church's  order  and  disposition  of  her  service 
at  this  time. 

*  Similar  observations  occur  in  the  Bishop's  notes  upon  the  Common  Prayer, 
under  the  head  '  Proper  Lessons.' 


Abundant  proof  of  original  corruption.  209 

A  part  of  which  service  is  the  text  here  that  I  have  chosen ; 
wherein  if  we  can  find  the  mercy  and  favour  of  God  in  the 
midst  of  our  misery,  and  take  heed  of  the  malice  and  fraud 
of  the  devil  in  the  midst  of  His  mercy,  we  shall  have  made 
so  many  steps  backwards  again  in  our  way  to  paradise,  and 
as  many  forwards  in  our  coming  to  Christ. 

The  fall  of  man  and  the  sin  of  the  woman  in  paradise, 
wherewith  they  infected  all  their  posterity,  is  a  story  de- 
livered to  us  in  Scripture  and  made  good  by  experience. 
For  if  there  were  no  Scripture  that  had  recorded  it,  yet 
the  universal  irregularity  of  our  whole  nature,  unsampled 
by  other  creatures,  and  running  counter  all  the  time  of  our 
life  to  all  the  right  rules  of  order  and  reason,  besides  the 
wretched  misery  of  our  condition  here  upon  the  earth, 
where  we  are  daily  exposed  to  continual  afflictions  and 
sorrow,  without  any  true  rest  or  contentment  of  our  minds 
at  all, — all  this  might  well  enough  assure  us,  that  ab  initio 
non  fuit  sic,  'from  the  beginning  it  was  not  so/  at  least.  Mat.  18.  8. 
not  likely  it  should  be  so,  that  He  who  created  us  at  first, 
and  made  us  lords  of  all  His  other  creatures,  should  make 
us  such]  disorderly  creatures  then  as  we  appear  to  be  now : 
but  that  whoever  it  was,  there  had  been  some  common 
father  and  parent  to  us  all,  who  had,  since  that  time, 
either  eat  or  drank  some  strange  and  devilish  poison  or 
other,  wherewith,  infecting  himself  first,  he  undid  and  poi- 
soned his  whole  race  after  him. 

That  poison,  to  go  now  by  the  Scriptures,  was  brought 
him  by  the  devil,  and  down  it  went,  with  the  breach  and 
contempt  of  God's  commandment,  when  he  would  needs  do 
that  which  he  was  forbidden  to  do,  and  eat  of  a  fruit  which 
was  not  permitted  him  to  taste,  being  otherwise  as  free  and 
as  indiflferent  to  be  eaten  as  any  other  fruit  was  that  the 
earth  brought  forth,  but  that  God  would  make  trial  only 
in  this,  whethei*  he  would  be  obedient  to  Him  or  no ;  and 
he  would  not ;  would  be  kept  under  no  restraint  or  law  at 
all,  but  would  needs  be  lord  himself,  and  do  what  he  list; 
this  undid  him,  and  all  his  posterity  after  him ;  for  such  as 
the  nature  of  the  root  is,  infected  or  sound,  such  are  the 
branches  that  flow  from  it.  And  we  are  branches  of  his  in- 
fected stock,  every  man  and  mother's  child  of  us  all,  till  we 

COSIN.  p 


210  Division  of  the  subject  info  its  parts. 

SEEM,  be  all  ingrafted  into  Christ ;  all  poisoned  with  sin,  and  that 
'■ —  sin  which  was  the  bane  of  the  world,  the  sin  of  disobedience 


to  God's  express  will  and  commandment;  take  we  heed  of 
that  sin,  it  undid  and  disordered  the  world  at  first,  that,  and 
first  or  last  will  be  the  bane  and  undoing  of  us  all. 

They  take  their  freedom  much  abroad,  to  talk  and  dis- 
course of  the  fruit  of  this  tree ;  they  bid  us  tell  them  what  it 
was;  and  many  a  loose  tongue  there  is  that  say  their  plea- 
sure of  it.  But  it  is  neither  the  fruit  nor  the  tree  that  we 
are  to  look  at  here.  Be  it  what  it  was,  good  we  are  sure  it 
Gen.  1.31.  was,  as  all  the  rest  were;  all  that  God  had  made  was  good, 
and  good  to  be  eaten  too;  there  was  no  harm  in  the  tree 
at  all ;  the  harm  was  in  the  breach  of  God's  commandment, 
which  might  have  forbidden  the  use  of  any  other  tree,  or  any 
other  indiff'erent  thing  whatsoever,  as  well  as  this.  And  if 
the  commandment  had  been  broken,  the  off'ence  had  been 
the  same  still,  lay  it  where  they  will ;  so  the  offence  is  all. 

For  which  Adam  being  called  to  an  account,  and  he  lay- 
ing the  fault  upon  the  woman,  the  woman  is  here  examined, 
and  gives  in  her  answer,  of  both  which  we  are  now  to  take 
a  view.  *  And  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  woman.  What  is 
this  that  thou  hast  done  ?  And  the  woman  said,  The  ser- 
pent beguiled  me.' 

There  are  three  parties  here  named,  and  we  must  take 
notice  of  them  all ;  but  the  general  parts  of  the  text  are 
two ;  God's  own  inquisition,  accusing  the  woman ;  and  the 
woman's  own  confession,  excusing  her  fact. 

I  begin  with  the  inquisition  into  the  fact ;  '  And  the  Lord 
God  said  unto  the  woman,  What  is  this  that  thou  hast  done  ?' 
where  we  have  the  person  first  that  makes  this  inquest,  and 
then  the  inquisition  itself.     We  will  look  into  them  both. 

I.  In  the  person ;  as  much  off*ended  as  He  was,  yet  there 
are  here  three  remarkable  circumstances  of  His  goodness. 
First,  in  His  forbearance  to  stay  so  long  as  He  did,  not  to 
come  and  examine,  or  call  this  woman  to  an  account,  till  now. 
^t  dixit  Dominus,  'And  the  Lord  God  said.'  That  'And'  is 
often  set  for  a  conjunction  of  time,  and  so  it  is  here;  for 
first,  the  man  himself  had  been  examined,  and  till  he  ac- 
cused and  appealed  the  woman,  God,  He  forbears  her ;  Who, 
though  He  needed  not  any  information  from  another  to  tell 


Accumulated  sin  of  Eve.  211 

Him  what  had  been  done,  for  He  knew  well,  and  had  observed 
all  the  progress  of  her  sin  from  the  first  to  the  last,  yet  as 
though  He  had  been  loath  to  know  it,  or  to  find  her  guilty 
of  it.  He  takes  no  notice  of  it  all  the  while,  but  as  if  He  had 
been  unwilling  to  come  against  her,  and  to  pronounce  any 
such  sentence  of  justice  upon  her  as  her  sin  required.  See 
how  long  He  stays  from  it,  and  how  slowly  He  comes  to  it; 
she  whom  He  knew  to  be  the  first  in  the  transgression,  He 
sets  her  by,  here  to  be  the  last  in  the  inquisition ;  she  who 
had  committed  so  many  transgressions.  He  calls  her  not  into 
question  for  any  of  them  all  till  now.  Count  her  trans- 
gressions; for  there  were  more  of  them  than  one.  (1.)  She 
had  entertained  a  conference  here  with  the  devil,  listened  to 
him  ;  and  yet  God  spared  her.  (2.)  At  the  first  onset  of.that 
conference  she  sinned  a  sin  of  unbelief  and  distrust  in  God, 
made  a  question  whether  He  had  said  true  or  no  ;  and  yet 
He  spared  her.  (3.)  In  the  progress  of  her  sin  she  grew  am- 
bitious and  exalted  in  her  mind,  to  become  like  God  Him- 
self; and  yet  lie  spared  her.  (4.)  In  the  pursuit  of  this  am- 
bition she  assents,  and  suffers  the  devil  to  charge  God  with 
envy,  says  nothing  against  it ;  and  yet  He  spared  her.  (5.) 
After  this  she  lets  her  sensual  desires  and  affections  all  loose 
to  be  doing  that  which  God  had  forbidden  her;  and  yet  He 
spared  her.  (6.)  At  last  she  does  it,  comes  to  the  height 
and  consummation  of  her  sin;  that  is,  sins  all  these  sins 
together,  of  pride  and  ambition,  of  murmuring  and  envy, 
of  distrust  and  unbelief,  of  presumption  and  confidence,  of 
rebellion  and  disobedience,  all  this.  And  yet  for  all  this, 
God  He  forbears  her  still,  comes  not  against  her  all  this 
while,  till  she  had  allured  the  man  also  into  all  these  trans- 
gressions with  her;  and  then,  and  not  till  then,  does  He 
come  here  to  judge  and  punish  them  both.  "Well  may  we 
say  of  Him,  'Long  suffering  and  of  great  goodness,'  for  He 
comes  not  to  judge  and  punish  until  He  be  provoked  and 
forced  to  come,  as  if  it  were  against  His  nature  and  pro- 
perty to  do  it ;  never  does  it,  no  more  now,  than  He  did 
here  at  first,  till  the  world  puts  Him  to  it,  and  will  suffer 
Him  to  stay  no  longer. 

This  is  one  good  meditation  for  us  to  begin  withal ;  and 
this  may  be  another,  that  though  we  find  our  hearts  full  of 

p2 


212  All  iemptation  not  sin. 

SEEM,  evil  and  sinful  thoughts,  which  she,  here  in  the  state  of  her 

: —  integrity,  might  have  kept  from  ever  coming  there,  as  in  the 

state  of  our  corruption  we  never  shall,  though  we  be  often 
tempted  with  them  and  meet  with  many  allurements  to  make 
us  sin,  yet  if  we  can  make  any  shift  to  keep  ourselves  from 
the  act  and  execution  of  sin,  we  have  a  fair  hope  here,  that 
God  will  bear  no  less  with  us  than  He  did  with  her,  till  she 
brought  all  to  a  final  execution,  and  let  her  sins  get  the 
mastery  of  her  in  the  end.  For  He  will  not  deal  with  us 
in  further  rigour  than  the  frailties  and  infirmities  of  our  hu- 
man nature,  now  corrupted  and  made  worse  than  it  was,  will 
bear.  There  is  a  soil  of  sin  contracted  in  us,  ever  since  this 
first  sin  was  committed,  which  of  itself  will  otherwhiles  rise 
and  vapour  from  our  nature,  let  the  best  do  his  best.  I  do 
not  say  we  can  keep  ourselves  now  from  that,  as  Eve  might 
have  done  before  her  fall;  but  this  we  may  do,  we  may  keep 
ourselves  from  provoking  that  corruption,  by  not  suffering 
our  minds  to  wander  in  it;  by  keeping  our  ears  from  such 
conference,  and  our  eyes  from  such  occasions,  as  will  set  it 
a  working,  all  which  was  the  undoing  of  this  woman  at  first. 
From  that,  by  the  help  of  God,  we  may  keep  ourselves  well 
enough.  And  thus,  if  sin  be  not  kept  from  us,  because 
of  the  many  infirmities  that  are  within  us,  and  the  many 
temptations  that  be  without  us,  yet  are  we  kept  from  sin, 
by  suffering  neither  of  them  both  to  get  the  dominion  and 
mastery  over  us.  And  with  that  will  God  be  content  at  our 
hands,  as  our  estate  now  is.  This  is  a  point  of  comfort  in 
the  midst  of  our  misery,  and  all  this  belongs  to  His  long- 
suffering  and  forbearance  here;  the  first  circumstance  in 
the  person  of  the  judge. 

2.  The  second  is  in  the  temper  of  His  justice, —  which  I 
consider  not  here  in  relation  to  the  promise  that  He  made 
hereafter  of  setting  up  the  brazen  serpent,  that  was  Christ,  to 
heal  them  and  all  others,  of  the  sting  and  poison  which  they 
had  got  from  this  tempting  serpent, — but,  as  the  text  here 
leads  me,  and  no  further.  In  that,  God  vouchsafes,  first, 
to  enquire  of  the  oflFence,  and  to  examine  the  fact,  before 
He  gives  any  sentence,  or  proceeds  to  execution  upon  it. 

Gen.  11.  7.  He  did  so  at  Babel,  went  down  to  see  their  building  first, 
before  He  would  confound  those  builders.     He  did  so  at 


God  examines  before  He  condemns.  213 

Sodom,  before  He  burnt  up  their  city.     He  will  do  so  again  Gten.  18. 
when  He  comes  to  burn  up  all  the  world ;  all  shall  be  ex- 
amined and  every  one  shall  be  heard,  what  they  can  say  for 
themselves  before  they  receive  their  sentence.     We  say  of 
Him,  and  we  say  rightly,  that  from  Him  no  secrets  are  hid,  Ps.  44.  2i. 
but  all  hearts  open,  and  all  actions  known  to  Him,  whatever  i Cor, 3. 21. 
they  be,  for  He  framed  the  heart,  and  understandeth  the  isam.  2.8. 
thoughts  of  them  long  before ;  He  created  the  world,  and 
sees  all  the  works  that  are  done  in  it.     This  enquiry,  there- 
fore, was  not,  nor  never  will  be,  because  He  knew  not  what 
was  done,  but  that  these  persons  that  did  it  might  reflect 
upon  themselves  and  see  what  evil  they  had  done.    If  justice 
proceeds  it  is  long  of  them '  that  they  have  nothing  left  >  it  is  their 
to  plead  against  it ;  otherwise  as  He  is  willing  to  hear  them 
all  they  can  say,  so  He  is  unwilling  to  condemn  them  before 
they  be  heard  and  have   said  here  what  they  can  :    which 
will  be  the  case  likewise  of  all  their  posterity  that  comes 
after  them. 

3.  The  third  and  last  circumstance  which  I  note  here,  is, 
that  God  is  said  here  to  come  in  His  own  person,  and  make 
this  enquiry ;  to  speak  and  to  talk  with  them,  as  one  man 
doth  with  another ;  to  come  down  and  look  them  out,  when 
they  ran  away  from  Him  and  hid  themselves  out  of  His 
sight.  All  which  is  spoken  secundum  captum  humanum,  that 
men  might  the  more  easily  apprehend  and  understand  His 
ways  of  proceeding  with  them  the  better '.  It  is  an  adage  of 
the  Hebrew  writers,  and  they  repeat  it  often.  Lex  loquitur 
linguam filiorum  hominum,  'that  God  speaks  the  language  of 
men  /  that  is,  that  the  Scriptures  of  God  descend  to  the 
capacity  and  understanding  of  men,  and  therefore  they  pre- 
sent God  and  shew  Him  to  us,  not  only  in  the  faculties  of 
our  mind,  but  in  the  position,  and  motion,  and  lineaments  of 
our  body.  In  the  meanwhile  this  is  certain,  that  His  im- 
mutable and  divine  nature  is  not  subject  to  any  one  of  them 
all,  howsoever  here  or  elsewhere  He  presenteth  Himself  in 
them.  I  add  that  as  it  is  not  proper  for  His  essence,  so 
neither  is  it  fitting  for  His  greatness,  thus  to  express  Him- 
self; but  that  He,  not  regarding  so  much  what  might  best 
become  Him,  as  what  might  best  instruct  us,  chooseth  of 

'  See  Tertull.  adv.  Praxean,  p.  503.  ed.  1597. 


214  Nature  of  the  trial  to  which 

SEEM,  purpose  the  stylat  and  character  for  us  wherewith  we  are 
'- —  soonest  affected. 

And  because  good  moral  counsel,  delivered  in  plain  and 
general  precepts,  use  to  enter  but  faintly  with  us,  therefore 
ad  eocaggerandam  peccati  vim  et  malitiam,  as  TertuUian 
speaks,  to  set  forth  the  heinousness  of  sin,  and  contempt 
against  Him,  He  sets  forth  Himself  affected  with  it,  as  in 
the  like  case  we  would  be  affected  ourselves,  able  to  bring 
Him  out  of  His  place,  to  fetch  Him  down  from  heaven,  if 
by  any  means  in  the  world  it  were  possible  to  bring  Him 
thence.  Such  is  the  nature  of  sin,  that  it  would  even  force 
Him  to  that. 

But  St.  Austin's  reason  is  better,  and  more  commended* 
Exprimit  in  8e,  ut  expromat  de  te.  He  thus  brings  forth 
Himself  against  sin,  examining,  complaining,  condemning, 
judging,  and  punishing  of  it,  that  we  might  do  as  much 
against  it  in  ourselves.  And  so  I  come  from  the  person  to 
the  inquisition. 

II.  And  He  said,  Quid  est  hoc  quodfecisti  9  '  What  is  this 
that  thou  hast  done  V  whereof  I  have  said  so  much  already, 
that  I  shall  have  but  a  little  to  do  here. 

There  is  in  it  the  greatness  and  aggravation  of  her  sin, 
this  first  sin  of  the  world,  that  hath  so  disordered  the  world 
ever  since,  and  brought  in  all  the  rest  after  it. 

And  the  greatness  of  it,  how  little  account  soever  the 
Pelagian  «,  the  Socinian  ^  and  the  Atheist  ^  make  of  it,  will 
appear  to  us  in  these  three  particulars. 

1.  First,  it  was  a  transgression  of  a  law,  and  such  a  law  as 
was  given  for  nothing  else,  but  only  to  try  and  to  prove  the 
first  man  and  the  first  woman,  (of  whom  all  men  and  women 
were  afterwards  to  come,)  whether  they  would  live  here  in 
subjection  to  God  or  no,  and  acknowledge  Him  to  be  their 
Lord  and  master ;  or  otherwise  to  renounce  Him  and  His 
absolute  dominion  over  them. 

For  the  moral  law  which  was  written  and  engraven  in 
their  hearts,  as  it  is  still  in  ours, — that  was  not  it;  it  was 

K  See  Vossius,    Historia    Pelagian-  '  See  their  opinion  summed  up  by 

ismi,  p.  172.  edit.  1618.  Gerhard,    Loc.   Theol.   iv.   317.  edit. 

•>  Scherzer,  Colleg.   Anti-Socin.,  p.  Coitae. 
275,  edit.  1672. 


Adam  and  Eve  were  subjected  in  paradise.  215 

not  for  the  doing  of  any  thing  that  was  of  itself  simply  good, 
nor  for  the  abstaining  from  any  thing  that  was  of  itself 
simply  evil,  for  in  such  things  as  these,  in  the  state  of  in- 
tegrity wherein  they  were  created,  there  had  been  no  trial 
of  their  pure  and  absolute  subjection  at  all,  and  therefore 
there  was  no  commandment  given  them  for  these  things  at 
first,  no  more  than  there  is  now  to  the  Angels  ;  such  excellent 
endowments  they  had  then,  without  any  disorder  in  their 
affections,  or  defect  in  their  intellectuals,  that  they  were 
naturally  carried  to  observe  all  moral  laws  of  themselves, 
that  is,  such  things  as  a  good  and  righteous  person  would  do, 
without  any  commandment  to  do  them,  and  such  things  as 
he  would  not  do,  without  any  prohibition  to  forbid  them ;  so 
this  was  not  it  that  put  them  to  their  trial.  That  which  did 
so,  was  a  law  of  another  nature,  prohibiting  a  thing  in  itself 
neither  good  nor  evil;  a  thing,  that  but  for  the  trial  of  their 
obedience  (whether  they  would  submit  themselves  to  God 
or  no,  only  because  lie  commanded  them,  and  merely  for 
obedience  sake)  had  been  otherwise  indifferent,  and  neither 
pleasing  nor  displeasing  to  God  at  all.  Peradventure  this  is 
somewhat  that  ye  have  not  heard  before,  but  we  had  it  from 
St.  Austin,  and  he  had  it  from  the  City  of  God,  where  the 
Scriptures  and  the  Church  of  God  are  kept :  Prohibita  non 
propter  aliud,  quam  ad  commendandum  puree  ac  simplicis  obe- 
dientice  bonum,  '  Being,'  says  he  there, '  forbidden  not  for  any 
other  respect  than  thereby  only  to  try  and  commend  their 
pure  and  simple  obedience  ;'  for  by  observing  of  this  law, 
they  should  have  given  a  testimony  that  they  were  willing 
to  subject  themselves  to  God's  pleasure,  only  because  it  was 
His  pleasure ;  and  therefore  by  rejecting  and  breaking  this 
law,  they  did  as  much  as  make  an  open  profession  that  they 
would  be  none  of  His  subjects,  but  renounce  His  power  and 
lordship  over  them.  This  was  their  sin,  and  this  the  first 
was  that  wherein  the  greatness  of  their  sin  appeared  the 
greater,  because  they  had  no  other  commandment  given 
them  than  this. 

2.  The  second  is,  in  regard  of  their  persons  that  sinned. 
That  they  here,  whom  God  had  made  the  last  and  most  ex- 
cellent of  all  His  creatures,  formed  them  after  His  own 
image,  given  them  an  essence  both  spiritual  and  immortal. 


216  Original  righteousness  of  man. 

SEEM,  endued  them  with  qualities  divine  and  holy,  bestowed  on 

'■ —  them  a  free  and  unconstrained  will,  made  them  lords  and 

rulers  of  all  the  world  besides, — that  they  here  should  sin 
against  Him,  and  set  so  light  by  His  pleasure ;  the  greater 
the  persons,  the  greater  the  sin ;  and  the  more  graces,  the 
more  ingratitude.  For  of  those  to  whom  God  had  given  so 
much,  He  might  justly  have  required  and  expected  much ; 
whatsoever  it  had  been  that  He  imposed  upon  them.  If 
they  sin,  they  sin  more  grievously  than  any  other ;  so  that 
in  this  respect  the  sin  of  these  two  persons,  adorned  with  so 
many  divine  and  admirable  abilities  not  to  sin  at  all,  exceeded 
the  sins  of  all  their  'posterity,  as  much  as  their  integrity  did 
our  corruption :  between  which  there  is  now  as  great  a  dif- 
ference as  betwixt  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  the  darkness 
of  a  cloud.     This  was  a  second  aggravation. 

3.  The  third  is  as  great,  for  the  commandment  was  little, 
and  easy  to  be  observed  ;  easy,  both  in  regard  of  themselves, 
,  who  being  created  in  holiness  and  righteousness,  were  not 
then  troubled  with  any  such  disordered  affections  as  we  are 
now,  and  in  regard  of  that  which  was  forbidden  them.  For 
they  had  all  the  liberty  of  the  world  allowed  them,  but  this  ; 
whereof,  as  they  had  no  need,  in  the  full  plenty  and  abund- 
ance of  all  things  else,  so  had  they  no  prohibition  neither, 
but  only  to  approve  themselves  in  this  one  particular,  that 
notwithstanding  their  liberty  and  lordship  over  all  other 
creatures,  there  was  yet  a  lord  and  master  over  them,  "Whom 
they  should  have  no  liberty  to  reject.  And  yet  they  did  it 
when  they  had  no  provocation,  no  reason  at  all  to  do  it ;  did 
it  for  no  other  but  because  they  would  have  their  own  will 
in  doing  of  it,  without  enduring  the  least  restraint  to  be 
put  upon  them ;  which  made  their  sin  rise  as  high  as  pride 
and  rebellion,  the  worst  sins,  and  the  most  like  the  devil's 
sin  of  any  other.  Well  might  God  say.  Quid  est  hoc  quod 
fecisti?  'What  is  this  that  thou  hast  done?'  All  con- 
sidered, there  never  was  the  like.  Pride  and  rebellion  make 
men  like  to  devils,  and  the  devil  has  a  foot  in  it,  wherever 
the  steps  of  it  are  now,  or  have  been  at  any  time  to  be 
found.  For  here  in  the  next  part  is  he  brought  in  as  the 
master  rebel  of  all  himself. 

'And  the   woman   said.  The   serpent  beguiled  me.'     Of 


Different  opinions  respecting  the  serpent.  217 

which  there  is  so  much  to  say,  that  I  must  ask  leave  for 
another  time  to  say  it  in,  and  only  tell  you  now,  the  heads 
of  what  I  am  to  speak  of  then. 

There  is  in  it,  besides  the  woman  and  that  which  concerns 
her,  the  serpent  and  his  guile,  that  concerns  both  him  and 
ourselves. 

Concerning  the  serpent,  there  will  be  two  things  to  be 
enquired ;  first,  what  this  serpent  was  indeed ;  and  secondly, 
what  Eve  supposed  him  to  be.  For  there  are  some  men  in 
the  world  so  unreasonable,  as  to  think  and  to  say  that  this 
was  the  unreasonable  and  the  brute  serpent*^,  and  others 
there  be  that  make  nothing  of  it  but  a  mere  allegory ',  such 
another  as  they  do  of  the  tree  of  life  too.  So  volatile  and 
slippery  are  the  licentious  wits  and  fancies  of  men^  that 
neither  Scripture  nor  any  religious  writer  besides  can  fix 
them.  Against  these  two  sorts  of  men,  and  the  imaginary 
doctrine  that  they  have  delivered  to  the  world,  we  shall  have 
somewhat  to  say  and  make  it  appear  first,  that  this  deceiver 
here  was  the  devil,  who  did  but  abuse  the  brute  serpent, 
either  by  entering  into  him,  or  by  taking  his  shape  upon 
him,  and  then  that  Eve  took  him  for  no  other.  There  will 
be  some  difficulties  to  assoiP,  but  I  shall  endeavour  to  clear  'to answer 
them  all,  and  shew  you  besides,  what  his  liberty  and  what 
his  limits  have  been  ever  since. 

Concerning  his  guile,  here,  when  we  know  how  the  woman, 
the  wisest  and  the  most  knowing  that  ever  was,  came  to  be 
beguiled  by  him,  we  shall  take  occasion  to  tell  you  what  has 

''  This  was  the  opinion  of  Josephus,  protoplastis  colloquente  eosque  vesti- 
(Antiq.  Jud.  i.  I,)  and  of  various  other  ente,  de  arbore  vitae  et  discriminis 
Jewish  writers ;  see  Buddei  Hist.  Eccl.  boni  malique  Jehovae  et  coelitibus  re- 
Vet.  Testamenti,  t  i.  p.  96.  edit.  1726.  servata,    de    serpente    callidis    verbis 

'  A  list  of  these  allegorists,  begin-  alliciente,  de  poenis  serpenti  et  homi- 

ning  with  Philo  and  Origen,  together  nibus  inflictis  ob  delictum  levissimum 

with  a  refutation  of  their  theory,  may  gravissimis,   quae   potius    pro    effectis 

be  seen  in  Cotta's  note  to  Gerhard's  e    natura   creaturarum   illarum   finita 

Loc.  Com.  Theolog.,  torn.  iv.  p.  301.  necessario   exoriundis   habendae    sunt. 

The    following    passage    from    Weg-  quod   similia   aliarum  gentium   com- 

schneider's     Institutiones    Theologiae  menta  peperit,  originem  mali  explicare 

Christianae  Dogmaticae,  §  117,  (Halas  tentavit.     Verum  e  mytho  sacro  nulla 

1829,)   will    best   explain    the    senti-  ejusmodi  dogmata  in  verae  religionis 

ments  of  the  modern  German  school.  doctrinam   recipienda  sunt,  nisi  quae 

In  traditionis  Mosaicae  argumento  fons  non   pugnant    cum    idea    numinis    et 

est  praecipuus  doctrina  de  origine  pec-  cum   naturae    humanae  indole  morali, 

cati.     Sed  id  ipsum,  et  ea  praesertim  quales  e  Scripturae   Sacrae  efiatis  in- 

aperte  mythum  produnt,  quse  narran-  dubitatis  et  sanae  rationi  convenient!- 

tur  de  Deo  apparente,  ambulante,  cum  bus  recte  demonstratae  fuerint. 


218  Practical  lessons  to  be  derived 

SERM.  been  the  greatest   occasion,  ever   since   that  time,  of  the 

XV  • 
'■ —  greatest  errors  and  disorders  of  the  world  in  all  times ;  for 

there  is  a  piece  of  the  devil's  deceit  and  guile  in  them  all, 
moral  and  religious  matters  and  all.  All  to  make  us  the 
more  careful  and  wary  against  him,  to  know  what  the  deceit- 
fulness  of  sin  and  error  is,  and  to  avoid  it,  to  fly  from  it  as 
Eccl.  21. 2.  we  would  do  from  a  serpent ;  for  to  this  end  was  this  Scrip- 
ture recorded  by  God,  and  appointed  to-day  to  be  read  in 
His  Church,  whereof  God  give  us  grace  to  make  a  right  and 
a  religious  use,  that  if  we  have  not  been  so  happy  as  not  to 
fall,  (we  call  Adam's  sin  Adam's  fall,)  yet  we  may  not  be  so 
unhappy  as  not  to  rise  and  stand  up  again;  if  not  before  we 
sin  to  stop  ourselves,  and  say.  Quid  est  hoc  quod  facio,  what 
is  this  that  I  am  about  to  do  ?  which  were  always  best,  yet 
at  least  to  say  after.  Quid  est  hoc  quod  feci,  what  is  this  that 
I  have  done  ?  which  will  never  be  amiss.  There  is  much 
more  in  it  (this,  '  what  have  we  done?')  than  one  would  think, 
for  ask  it  over  again,  when  at  any  time  we  fall,  (for  sin,  as  we 
said,  is  the  fall  of  man,)  it  casts  us  down  as  a  fall,  it  bruises 
as  a  fall,  it  fouls  as  a  fall,  dixit  Dominus,  Quid  est  hoc  quod 
fecisti  ?  '  what  is  this  that  thou  hast  done  ?  '  what  in  respect 
of  itself?  so  fond,  so  foul,  so  ignominious  an  act; — what  in 
regard  of  God?  so  opposite  to  the  law  of  His  justice,  so 
injurious  to  the  awe  of  His  power,  so  fearful,  so  glorious 
in  His  majesty; — what  in  regard  of  the  object?  for  what 
a  trifling  vanity !  for  what  a  transitory  pleasure !  what  in 
respect  of  the  consequent,  so  dangerous,  so  pernicious  to 
soul  and  body  both,  and  yet  for  all  this,  to  be  so  evil 
advised  as  to  do  it ;  why  did  we  do  it  ?  how  came  we  to  be 
brought  to  it?  sure  when  we  did  it,  we  did  we  knew  not 
what.  A  meditation  as  fit  for  any  one's  sin  and  falling 
from  God  in  other  kinds,  as  it  was  for  Eve's  here  in  this. 

Therefore  the  best  use  and  application  of  all  will  be  to  ask 
ourselves  this  question ;  to  ask  it  often ;  to  recount  our  falls  ; 
that  is,  to  call  ourselves  to  an  account  for  them,  before  God 
comes  to  do  it ;  to  set  them  before  us,  as  He  does  here  before 
Eve;  to  look  upon  them  and  to  see  whether  they  have 
brought  us  from  the  state  of  paradise  to  the  turmoils  of  the 
world,  from  the  beauty  of  life  to  the  dust  of  death,  from 
the  place  of  liberty  to  the  bar  of  judgment.     If  we  could  be 


from  the  whole  subject.  219 

sometimes  got  to  do  this  in  kind,  we  would  keep  ourselves 
the  better  from  falling  out  of  God's  protection,  so  often  as  we 
do  ;  but  if  at  any  time  we  find  ourselves  out,  it  will  be  good 
making  all  the  haste  we  can  to  get  in  again  howsoever.  And 
there  is  no  better  way  to  do  it  than  this,  that  God  Himself 
hath  here  set  out  for  us  ;  that  is,  to  call  ourselves  to  account 
for  sin,  before  He  comes  to  judgment. 

And  this  being  the  sum  of  all,  here  I  end,  praying  that 
God  would  give  us  grace,  first  to  avoid  sin,  and  then,  if  we 
have  not  avoided  it,  to  follow  the  advice  which  this  sermon 
and  this  lesson  of  His  hath  given  us.  And  to  the  same  God, 
as  our  bounden  duty  is,  let  us  always  ascribe  all  honour,  and 
glory,  and  dominion  over  all  His  creatures,  now  and  for  ever- 
more.    Amen. 


SEIIMON  XVI. 


PAKIS,   MARCH    5,    1651.    [nEW   STYLE.] 

SECUNDA  DOMINICA  QUADEAGESIMJ3. 

Genesis  iii.  13,  14. 

And  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  woman,  What  is  this  that 
thou  hast  done  ?  And  the  woman  said,  The  serpent  beguiled 
me  and  I  did  eat. 

And  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  serpent.  Because  thou  hast 
done  this,  thou  art  cursed,  ^c. 

SEEM.       I  RETURN  now  to  our  text  here  out  of  Genesis,  which  the 

XVI.  . 
'- —  Church  at  this  season  reads  to  us,  and  where  the  story  of 

Adam's  fall,  and  the  beginning  of  sin  and  misery  in  the 

world,  is  recorded  to  all  his  posterity. 

A  story,  whereof  if  there  were  no  Scripture  nor  record  at 
all,  yet  would  the  general  corruption  and  irregularity  of  our 
Mat.  19.  a  whole  nature,  give  us  cause  enough  to  suspect  that  ab  initio 
nonfuit  sic,  from  the  beginning  it  was  not  as  it  is  now,  but 
that  some  or  other,  of  whom  we  all  came,  themselves  had 
first  poisoned,  and  then  infected  all  their  whole  race  after 
them. 

As  here  in  Genesis  we  read  of  the  forbidden  meat,  so  in 

1  Cor.  10.    St.  Paul  we  find  that  there  was  a  forbidden  cup,  calix  daemo- 

niorum,  that  the  devil  hath  a  cup.  Of  that  cup  it  is  that, 
after  Adam,  the  world  will  still  be  tasting ;  and  as  it  went 
down  sweetly  with  him,  but  poisoned  him,  so  sin  is  a  poison 
Gen.  3.  5.  to  all  the  world  besides,  and  a  poison  to  death.  Eritis  sicut 
dii  went  off  pleasantly  at  first,  but  it  was   bitter  in  the 

2  Kings  4.  bottom,  and  it  proved  his  bane.     Mors  in  olla,  there  was 

destruction  in  that  meat,  and  death  in  that  cup ;  by  which 
is  meant  the  deadly  fruit  of  our  deadly  sins,  the  punishment 
and  sentence  that  here  follows  them. 


Analysis  of  the  sin  of  Adam  and  Eve.  221 

For  the  receiving  of  which  sentence,  Adam  being  called 
first  into  question  by  the  great  Judge  pf  heaven  and  earth, 
and  he  laying  the  fault  upon  the  woman,  she  upon  the 
serpent,  the  doom  here  passes  upon  them  all.  But  first 
she  was  heard  to  say,  as  Adam  was  before  her,  all  that  she 
can  allege  or  answer  for  herself. 

When  I  took  this  text  first,  I  made  but  two  parts  of  it  in 
the  former  case,  and  now  I  add  a  third  in  the  latter.  Let 
them  be  altogether,  the  inquisition  into  the  fact,  the  con- 
fession of  the  party,  and  the  sentence  of  the  judge.  Of  the 
inquisition  we  began  to  speak  when  I  made  the  last  sermon. 
Of  that  which  remains  there,  and  of  the  confession,  we  shall 
speak  in  this;  and  of  the  sentence  hereafter.     Of  which,  &c 

Into  the  inquisition,  consisting  of  the  words.  And  the 
Lord  God  said  unto  the  woman.  What  is  this  that  thou 
hast  done?  we  have  begun  to  enquire  already;  and  now 
we  get  on  to  see  how  great  a  sin  it  was  that  was  here  com- 
mitted, because  the  world  usually  make  so  light  of  it.  And 
yet  it  concerns  them  more  than  all  the  world  besides. 

(1.)  The  greatness  of  it  will  appear  in  regard,  first,  of  the 
commandment  itself,  which  was  given  them  that  rejected  it 
for  no  other  end  but  to  prove  them  only,  whether  they  would 
live  here  in  subjection  to  God,  or  no ;  for  otherwise  it  was  of 
a  thing  indifferent  in  itself,  neither  good  nor  evil,  neither 
pleasing  nor  displeasing  to  God  at  all,  but  to  try  their  obe- 
dience, for  obedience  sake.  And  therefore,  as  by  observing 
it,  they  should  have  given  a  testimony  that  they  were  will- 
ing to  submit  themselves  to  God's  pleasure,  only  because  it 
was  His  pleasure ;  so  by  rejecting  it,  they  acknowledged  no 
absolute  power  or  dominion  at  all  which  He  had  over  them 
That  had  created  and  made  them.  This  made  it  a  sin  of 
pride  and  rebellion,  the  worst  sin  and  the  most  like  the 
devil's  sin  of  any  other. 

(2.)  Next,  in  regard  of  their  own  person  that  committed 
it ;  that  they  here,  upon  whom  God  had  bestowed  so  much, 
formed  them  after  His  own  image,  adorned  them  with 
such  excellent  abilities,  made  them  lords  over  all  His  other 
creatures,  allowed  them  the  choice  of  all  the  things  in  the 
whole  world  but  one,  and  given  them  a  free  and  uncon- 


222  Magnitude  of  the  sin  of  Adam  and  Eve. 

SEEM,  strained  will,  besides  a  power  not  to  have  sinned  at  all; — 

'■ —  that  they,  thus  plentifully  furnished  against  sin,  should  yet 

sin  against  Him,  and  set  so  light  by  His  pleasure  !  for  the 
greater  the  persons,  the  greater  the  sin;  and  the  more 
graces  the  more  ingratitude.  If  they  sin,  they  sin  more 
grievously  than  any  other ;  so  that  in  this  respect,  their 
sin  exceeded  the  sins  of  all  their  posterity,  as  much  as 
their  state  of  integrity  does  our  state  of  corruption.  This 
made  it  an  ungrateful  sin. 

(3.)  And  thirdly,  in  regard  of  the  petty  and  irrational 
motives  that  they  had  to  do  it ;  that  God  envied  them ;  that 
it  might  be  He  had  not  said  true ;  that  the  devil  knew  more 
than  He ;  and  that  because  the  devil  said  it,  and  said  he 
would  put  them  into  a  better  state,  and  do  more  for  them 
than  He,  their  Lord  and  Maker  had  done.  Wherein  they 
did  not  only  set  themselves  to  try  a  conclusion  with  God 
Himself,  whether  He  could  see  them  so  sin,  or  be  affected 
with  such  a  sin,  or  cared  to  punish  a  sin,  which,  wheresoever 
such  a  contempt  and  tempting  of  Him  is,  amounts  to  very 
near  as  much  as  to  doubt  whether  there  be  a  God  or  no ; 
but  they  surrendered  up  themselves  likewise  to  His  ene- 
mies, and  adhered  to  the  devil  after.  This  made  it  a 
treacherous  sin. 

(4.)  And  lastly,  all  this  deliberately,  in  a  full  conference 
entertained  and  had  with  the  devil  about  it ;  after  a  con- 
fession that  God  had  been  with  them  before  and  forbidden 
them ;  after  an  acknowledgment  that  they  had  all  the  liberty 
of  the  world  besides ;  and  yet  they  did  it  when  they  had  no 
provocation,  no  reason,  no  need  to  do  it.  This  made  it  a 
wilful  sin. 

And  all  this  put  together ;  the  sin  of  pride  and  ambition 
in  themselves,  of  distrust  and  murmuring  against  God,  of 
ingratitude  to  His  bounty,  of  presumption  agaiust  His  will, 
and  of  a  wilful  rebellion  against  His  express  commandment, 
together  with  a  treacherous  adhering  to  His  professed  enemy  ; 
all  this  makes  it  the  greatest  sin  that  ever  was,  the  sin  that 
hath  so  disordered  the  world  with  all  manner  of  other  sins 
ever  since  *. 

■  The  nature  and  progressive  character  of  Eve's  sin  is  well  discussed  by 
Aquinas,  2.  2.  q.  163,  art.  i. 


God  is  a  righteous  judge.  223 

All  which  I  have  urged  the  rather,  and  now  more  than  I 
did  before,  to  confirm  and  make  good  the  tenor  of  the  Scrip- 
ture, and  the  truth  of  this  point,  against  them  that  in  this 
point  especially, — in  many  others,  but  in  this  above  others — 
suflFer  their  fancies  and  their  tongues  to  run  so  loosely  against 
it.  I  do  not  imagine  that  there  be  any  such  among  us,  but 
we  may  meet  with  them  now  and  then  abroad,  and  it  is  not 
amiss  that  we  should  be  always  prepared  for  them. 

I  have  but  one  thing  more  to  add  to  this  first  part,  and 
then  I  shall  proceed  to  the  second. 

God  is  here  brought  in,  as  in  some  other  places  of  the 
Scripture,  in  the  person  of  a  judge,  enquiring  after  the  fact, 
examining  the  party,  and  censuring  the  crime.  So  He  pro- 
ceeds here  secundum  allegata  et  probata,  gives  no  sentence, 
gives  neither  reward  nor  punishment  without  a  proof  or  an 
evidence  first  had  for  either. 

First  then,  God  proposes  to  Himself  persons  that  are 
obsequious  to  His  grace,  and  husband  His  grace  well  while 
they  have  it,  and  then  He  will  reward  with  more  grace ;  if 
they  neglect  it,  if  they  use  it  ill,  then  He  will  punish,  and 
take  away  that  grace  from  them  which  they  had  before. 
But  neither  this  nor  that  without  His  evidence  either  for 
them  or  against  them. 

For  this  purpose  we  are  to  take  the  saying  of  the  Scripture 
either  way ;  that  as  it  is  His  delight  to  be  with  the  sons  of  Prov.  8. 81. 
men,  so  it  is  His  intent  to  see  what  they  do,  and  to  proceed  Gen.  ii.  7. 
according  to  their  doings.  There  are  that  in  these  matters 
refer  to  His  hidden  and  eternal  decrees  only,  and  will  have 
all  His  proceedings  to  be  that  way,  in  scrinio  pectoris ;  to 
give  judgment  before  any  act  be  done,  good  or  bad;  to 
award  a  man  punishment  before  he  commits  any  sin.  He 
did  not  so  here;  and  if  that  other  were  a  right  and  just 
proceeding,  then  might  the  day  of  judgment  be  past  al- 
ready, and  this  inquisition  here  might  have  been  spared. 
But  I  do  not  see  how  either  justice,  or  reward,  or  punish- 
ment, can  stand  with  that  opinion  \ 

''  We   must   not  forget   that  when  pounder    well    denominated    it,    was 

Cosin  wrote,  that  peculiar  doctrine  of  preached  in  all  its  nakedness,  and  its 

Calvin  which  is  generally  styled  the  advocates  did  not  shrink,  as  they  now 

doctrine    of    Irrespective    Decrees,  —  do,   from   avowing   the    consequences 

'horribile  illud  decretum,'  as  its  pro-  which  naturally  resulted  from  it.  A  few 


224  The  decrees  of  God  not  irrespective. 

SEEM.       Abscondita  Deo  nostro.     The  decrees  of  God  are  hid  with 
'- —  God ;  if  they  be  secret,  we  neither  know  thera,  nor  are  we  to 


know  them.  This  we  know,  and  are  all  tied  to  take  notice 
of  it,  that  revelata  nobis,  those  things  of  God  which  He  hath 
revealed  to  men,  those  only  are  for  us  to  know ;  and  to  know 
thus  much  besides,  that  He  does  not  use  to  reveal  one  thing, 
nor  to  do  any  thing,  and  mean  another.  As  He  did  here  at 
first,  so  He  will  be  sure  to  do  ever  after;  to  be  no  accepter 
or  condemner  of  persons,  as  they  are  persons,  but  as  they  are 
persons  well  or  ill  disposed,  and  qualified  by  well  or  ill  using 
the  grace  that  He  has  given  them.  Other  rule  than  this 
have  we  none  to  follow,  nor  did  He  follow  here  any  other 
Himself,  where  He  proceeds  enquiring  and  examining  and 
clearing  the  matter  of  fact  before  He  sits  down  to  give  any 
sentence  about  it.  Never  shall  any  be  able  to  say  to  Him 
Gen.  18.      otherwise  than  Abraham  said  to  Him,  Shall  not  the  iudge  of 

25  '  J       » 

all  the  earth  do  right  ?  According  to  the  evidence  of  our  own 
actions,  so  will  He  do. 

Gen.  19. 1.  Qod  sent  down  His  commissioners,  the  Angels,  to  Sodom, 
to  enquire  and  inform  Him  how  things  went  there.  God 
comes  down  Himself  here,  to  enquire  and  to  know  how  it 
stood  with  Adam  and  Eve;  not  that  He  needed  any  informa- 
tion about  them,  or  that  He  ever  was,  or  ever  can  be,  ignorant 
of  any  thing,  either  concerning  them  or  us ;  for  He  knew 
well  enough  and  had  narrowly  observed  all  the  progress  of 
their  sin,  as  daily  He  does  any  of  ours ;  but  that  He  would 
prevent,  both  in  them,  and  in  every  man  of  the  world  after 
them,  that  dangerous  and  unjust  imagination,  when  they  find 
themselves  fallen  into  sin  or  misery,  that  God  should  first 
purpose  to  destroy  a  man,  and  then  make  him  that  He  might 
destroy  him,  without  having  any  other  evidence  against  him. 

Gen.  1.  27.  For  God  made  man  ad  imaginem  suam,  after  His  own 
image.  If  He  had  made  him  inevitably  to  be  cast  away  and 
lost,  He  had  made  him  ad  imaginem  diaboli,  after  the  image 
of  the  devil,  who  was  then  lost  and  cast  out  of  heaven.  But 
God  goes  not  out  as  a  fowler,  to  kill  for  His  pleasure.     It  is 

1  Pet.  5.  8.  not  He  that  seeks  whom  He  may  devour.  He  seeks  whom  He 
■  may  save,  and  is  willing  to  save  them,  though  He  saves  no 

of  these  are  noticed  by  Cosin  in  this      that  they  should   be  brought  promi- 
place,  but  the  subject  did  not  require      nently  forward. 


God  not  the  author  of  man's  destruction.  325 

man  against  his  will ;  and  when  He  proceeds  to  condemn 
any  man,  as  here  He  did  the  first,  He  proposes  not  that 
man  to  Himself,  either  as  He  meant  to  make  him,  nor  as 
He  did  make  him,  for  He  made  him  not  sinful,  but  as  by 
his  sins  he  hath  made  and  marred  himself. 

And  therefore  God  does  not  say,  here  before,  alicui  morte 
moriendum,  that  somebody  must  die,  and  thereupon  made 
somebody  to  be  killed  ;  but  said  only,  morle  morieris,  you 
are  yet  alive,  and  may  live  still,  but  if  you  will  not  obey  Me, 
then  morte  moriendum  indeed,  the  wages  of  that  sin  will  beRom.  6. 23. 
death.  So  God  did  not  at  first  make  death,  nor  made  He 
sickness,  nor  famine,  nor  pestilence,  nor  war,  and  then  make 
man,  that  He  might  throw  him  into  their  mouths;  but  when 
man  had  thrown  down  himself  into  the  danger  and  dominion 
of  them,  as  it  was  told  him  before  he  should,  if  he  sinned.  Gen.  2. 17. 
thereupon  God  let  him  indeed  fall  into  their  mouths,  and 
that  was  all.  And  this  to  free  God  from  being  the  first  au- 
thor of  any  man's  destruction.  For  no  man  can  wish  himself 
better  than  God  intended  him  at  first  before  the  fall ;  no, 
nor  than  God  intends  him  now,  as  great  a  siuner  as  he  is  after 
the  fall,  if  but  yet  he  will  conform  himself  to  His  will,  before 
He  comes  to  enquire  after  him  and  give  sentence  upon  him. 

And  so  much  for  the  inquisition  that  God  made  here  after 
this  sin,  and  the  reason  why  He  made  it,  when  He  said, 
'What  is  this  that  thou  hast  done?* 

II.  I  come  now  to  the  confession,  and  the  answer  that  the 
woman  made  for  herself,  when  she  said,  'The  serpent  be- 
guiled me,  and  I  did  eat.' 

In  which  answer  we  shall  have  some  questions  to  resolve. 
First,  concerning  the  truth  of  it,  whether  it  were  a  real  thing 
or  no,  that  here  she  confesseth ;  for  there  are  that  would 
have  nothing  made  of  it,  but  a  matter  merely  allegorical,  of 
the  serpent's  beguiling,  and  of  Eve's  eating,  and  all. 

Second,  then  concerning  this  serpent,  what  he  was  indeed. 

And  thirdly,  what  Eve  supposed  and  took  him  to  be. 

Afterwards  we  are  to  say  somewhat  of  the  beguiling  here, 
and  the  person  upon  whom  that  beguiling  wrought.  But 
I  shall  not  reach  these  two  last  to-day. 

(1.)  And  first  therefore,  for  the  truth  of  this  story.  The 
text  is  clear  enough,  both  here  and  before,  that  there  was 

COSIN.  Q 


226        The  Scripture  employs  metaphorical  language. 

S  S^^^-  ^  tree,  a  forbidden  tree,  whereof  this  woman  did  really  eat ; 

~" and  that  there  was  a  serpent,  a  deceiving  serpent,  by  whom 

she  was  really  beguiled.  Whereof  religious  and  good  men 
make  no  doubt ;  others  do ;  the  licentious  wits  of  some  men 
being  so  volatile  and  slippery,  that  no  Scriptures,  no  truth, 
can  fix  them.  And  such  men  have  herein  delivered  to  the 
world  an  imaginary  doctrine  of  their  own,  that  both  tree, 
and  serpent,  and  paradise,  and  all,  were  nothing,  and  both 
mere  allegories  ^ ;  which  came  first  either  from  the  fancy 
of  the  heathen  poets,  whom  they  read  rather  than  the  Scrip- 
tures, or  from  Julian  ^  the  apostate  and  his  master,  Porphyry, 
whom  in  this  case  they  are  willing  to  follow. 

Indeed  the  poets  feigned,  and  they  feigned  not  amiss,  that 
men  were  transformed  into  divers  shapes  of  beasts ;  thereby 
allegorically  to  shew  the  change  of  some  men's  conditions, 
from  reason  to  brutality,  and  from  virtue  to  vice.  And  as 
by  the  lively  image  of  other  creatures  those  ancients  did 
represent  the  variable  passions  and  affections  of  mortal  men, 
so  did  the  writers  of  the  Scripture  too,  otherwhiles,  from 
whom  those  heathens  had  their  copy.  An  oppressor  and  a 
cruel  man  was  made  a  lion ;  there  is  as  much  in  the  Psalm, 

Ps.  57. 4.    My  soul  is  among  lions ;  men  given  to  lust  and  sensuality 
were  represented  by  a  swine,  there  is  as  much  in  St.  Peter, 

2  Pet.  2.     of  one  that  wallows  in  the  mire ;  a  ravening  and  a  greedy 

22 

man  was  made  a  wolf,  there  is  as  much  mentioned  in  the 
Mat.  10.  gospel,  I  send  you  forth  as  sheep  among  wolves ;  foolish  and 
ignorant  persons  were  set  forth  by  an  image,  the  images  of 
stocks  and  stones ;  they  are  so  in  the  Scriptures,  They  that 
Ps.  135.  make  them  are  like  unto  them,  and  so  are  all  they  that  put 
their  trust  in  them.  But  the  subtle  and  deceitful  person  is 
made  a  serpent,  all  by  a  metaphorical  resemblance  only,  as 
they  would  have  it  here.  So  they  say  of  the  tree  of  know- 
ledge, and  of  paradise  itself;  from  whence  the  heathen  poets 
fetched  their  garden  of  Hesperides  and  their  tree  of  nectar  ^. 

*=  See  S. Cyrill.  Alexandri  0pp.,  torn.  1622.)   among   the   later  theologians; 

vi.  p.  82.  ed.  Auberti,  Lut.  1638.  and    Rosenmuller    and    Wegscheider 

^  Of  these  it  may  be  enough  to  spe-  among  the  Germans, 
cify  Origen  among  the  ancients,   con-  ^  This  is  derived  from  Pererius  in 

cerning  whom  see  Huet.  Origen,  lib.  Genes.,  where  he  discusses  the  ques- 

ii.  q.  12.  §  7.  torn.  i.  p.  167.  ed.  1668;  tion,   'An   sapientes  gentilium   ullam 

Cajetan  (see  Pererius  in  Genea.,  lib.  iv.  arboris     vitae     notitiam      habuerint?' 

cap.  10.  q.  11.  torn.  i.  p.  153.  ed.  Colon,  torn.  i.  p.  102.  Colon.  1622. 


The  history  of  the  fall  literally  true.  227 

But  as  all  those  resemblances  were  no  true  stories,  so  this 
story  here  was  no  feigned  resemblance.  Allegories  there 
are  in  Scripture  and  elsewhere,  grounded  upon  real  verities, 
and  fetched  from  the  truth  of  a  story  itself;  yet  as  that 
hinders  not  but  that  the  story  may  be  true,  so  it  does  not 
turn  the  story  itself  into  an  allegory,  nor  the  truth  into 
a  fiction ;  for  since  the  one  doth  not  exclude  the  other, 
they  may  both  stand  together. 

For  which  purpose  I  will  turn  them  to  another  piece  of 
Scripture.  St.  Paul  in  his  epistle  to  the  Galatians  speaks  Gal.  4. 24. 
of  Agar  and  Sarah,  and  makes  an  allegory,  or,  because  you 
may  all  understand  me,  a  figure  and  a  resemblance  of  them 
both ;  says  that  they  signified  the  Old  and  the  New  Testa- 
ments ;  and  that  all  this  was  spoken  by  an  allegory.  Yet  to 
conclude  from  hence  that  they  were  nothing  but  an  allegory, 
and  to  think  they  were  not  therefore  two  women,  one  the 
maid,  and  the  other  the  wife  of  Abraham,  were  nothing 
else  but  folly.  So  it  is  in  this  place,  where  the  words  and 
the  sense  of  the  Scripture  is  manifest  that  such  an  earthly 
paradise  there  was,  such  a  tree  planted  in  the  midst  of  that 
paradise,  such  a  serpent  persuading  the  woman  to  eat  of  that 
tree,  and  all  real ;  called  therefore  the  tree  of  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil,  not  for  any  innate  quality  that  it  had  of 
itself,  to  beget  any  such  knowledge  in  them  which  they  had 
not  before,  for  they  knew  well  enough  how  evil  it  was  to 
break  God's  commandment,  but  to  give  them  an  experi- 
mental knowledge  only*^,  which  they  were  like  to  find,  if 
they  brake  that  commandment,  by  the  event  and  punish- 
ment that  would  follow  upon  it ;  as  in  the  like  case  we  say 
ourselves,  they  shall  be  made  to  know  it  now,  of  those  that 
would  not  know  it  when  they  did,  and  took  no  warning  be- 
fore. For  otherwise,  Adam  was  of  perfect  knowledge,  and 
could  not  be  ignorant  but  that  the  disobeying  of  God's 
commandment  was  the  fearfuUest  evil,  and  the  observing  of 
it  the  greatest  good,  that  could  ever  befal  him.  But  as  men 
in  perfect  health  know  that  sickness  is  grievous,  and  yet 
they  feel  it  not  till  by  experience  they  find  it  so,  so  was  it 
with  Adam  and  his  tree  of  knowledge ;  which  some  men, 

'  See  Pererius  in  Genes.,  torn.  i.  p.  141,  and  also  S.  August,  de  Genesi  ad 
litteram,  lib.  viii.  cap.  13. 

q2 


228  Who  the  serpent  was 

SEEM,  not  rightly  understanding  why  it. was  so  called,  have  thought 

to  be  no  material  tree  at  all.     They  might  as  well  have  said 

it  was  no  well  at  all,  the  well  of  strife,  which  the  herdsmen 
Gen.  26.     of  Israel  and  Gerar  contended  for ;  nor  no   waters  at  all, 

20.  ... 

Num.  20.    the  waters  of  strife,  which  the  children  of  Israel  contended 

13  • 

for:  for  the  waters  had  no  such  innate  quality  in  them,  to 
make  any  strife,  and  yet  they  were  material  and  real  waters 
still  for  all  that ;  they  were  more  than  a  metaphor.  So  was 
this  tree  of  knowledge. 

(2.)  This  then  being  set  right,  we  come  to  the  serpent 
here,  to  see  what  he  was. 

First,  it  was  a  serpent  that  could  speak,  for  he  held  con- 
ference here  with  Eve  a  good  while  together  ;  and  then  he 
gave  her  divers  reasons,  such  as  they  were,  to  allure  and 
persuade  her  to  his  purpose.  Therefore  it  was  none  of  the 
unreasonable   and  brute    serpent  itself,    as   Julian    and   his 

p.  236.  disciples,  pleading  against  St.  Cyril  and  his  Church  at  Alex- 
andria ^,  said  it  was,  if  it  were  any  thing,  for  that  serpent  had 
no  language  to  speak  withal,  neither  he  nor  any  other  beast 
of  the  field  besides ;  and  though  some  men  have  been  so 
free  and  so  fond  of  their  fancies,  as  to  think  they  had  all 
a  language  at  first  ^\  we  read  of  them  in  the  parva  Genesis  ^^ 
a  legend,  and  in  Josephus'sJ  Antiquities,  yet  no  man  ever  said 
that  they  could  speak  the  language  of  Eve ;  and  how  then 
could  he  confer  with  her  ?  as  this  serpent  did,  or  from  whence 
could  he  know  what  commandment  God  had  laid  upon  her 
and  her  husband  ?  as  this  serpent  also  did.     Besides,  the  na- 

Gen.  1.  31.  tural  serpent  was  at  first  a  good  creature  of  God,  all  was  good 
that  He  made,  and  there  was  no  evil  in  them.  But  this  ser- 
pent that  spake  to  Eve  was  altogether  against  goodness,  and 

B  S.Cyrill.  Alexand.    adv.    Julian.,  •  See   Fabricius  Codex   Pseudepigr. 

lib.  iii.  torn.  vi.  p.  82.  edit.  Lut.  1638.  Veteris  Testam.,   torn.  i.   p.  849.   edit. 

^'OtJLO(p(i}vovvT<j3vZe  Kar'  €Kuvo  Kaipov  Hamb.  1713. 

riev  ^(itau  airdfTajv,    6  ocpis  avvhiandi-  J   Secundum,     qiisenam     fuerit    vox 

fjLivos   Tip    re   'A5a/i6j    koX   ttj  yvvaiKi,  ilia  serpentis,  quae  sermocinatio  ?   Nam 

(pdovepccs  ixif  eTx^''  ^<p'  oh  aurovs  tv-  vulgus    credit,    ut    fabulis    teritur,    in 

Satfjioi/'fia-fii'    ^ero,    Treneia-fj.ei'ovs    to7s  ipso  mundi  exordio  non  homines  tan- 

rov      @eov      irapayytKfjLacnv. — Joseph,  tum   sed  et  omnia   prorsus   animantia 

Antiq.  Jud.,  lib.  i.  cap.  2,  §  4.  0pp.,  loqui  et  sermociiiari  consuevisse  ;  quod 

torn.   i.    p.  6.   edit.   Oxon,   1720.     See  quidem     vanutn     et     ridiculum     est, 

Tostatus    in   Genes,  quaest.   439,   and  — Fernand.  in  Gen.,  torn,  i,  col.  241. 

Pererius,    tom.   i,   p.   192.      St.    Basil  See  also  some  further  speculations  of 

appears  to  have  entertained  the  same  the  same  nature  mentioned  by  Euseb. 

opinion-  de  Priepar.  Evang.,  lib.  xii.  cap,  9, 


by  whom  Eve  was  tempted.  229 

seduces  lier  to  evil.  Last  of  all,  the  punishment  here 
inflicted  upon  the  serpent,  though  part  of  the  former  part 
might  belong  to  the  unreasonable  serpent,  yet  the  latter 
part  of  it  could  not;  the  reason  whereof  I  shall  shew  you 
when  I  come  to  that  verse  hereafter. 

It  remains  therefore  that  it  must  be  some  other  serpent 
besides  him  ;  and  so  it  was.  It  was  that  old  serpent  the  Eov.  12.  9. 
devil,  as  the  Scriptures  every  where  style  him,  that  took 
either  the  body  or  the  shape  of  the  other  serpent  upon  him, 
and  therein  came  thus  to  speak  and  thus  to  persuade  and 
beguile  the  woman  here  as  he  did. 

And  that   thus  it  was,  the  Scriptures  are  clear;    where 
the  Prophets  and  Apostles,  whenever  they  have  occasion  to 
speak  of  the  first  coming  in  of  sin  and  death  into  the  world, 
they  ascribe  it  to  him.     In  the  Old  Testament ;   For  God  Wis.  2. 23. 
created  man  to  be  immortal,  saith  Solomon,  and  made  him 
to  be  an  image  of  His  own  eternity ;  but  through  the  envy 
of  the  devil  came  death  into  the  world.     In  the  New;  The  Joh. 8. 44. 
devil  was  the  murderer  from  the  very  beginning,  saith  Christ 
Himself;  the  murderer  of  all  men,  and  the  father  of  all  lies; 
of  which  this  was  one,  that  he  told  to  Eve  here  at  the  fourth 
verse,  that  if  she   would   hearken  to   him,  she   should   not 
surely  die.     I  am  afraid,  saith  St.  Paul,  lest  by  any  means,  2  Cor.  ii. 
as  the  serpent  beguiled  Eve  through  his  subtilty,  so  your 
minds  should  be  corrupted,  and  yourselves  seduced  from  the 
truth  and  the  sincerity  of  Christ's  religion.     They  that  so  go 
about  seducing,  to  teach  any  other  doctrine  than  he  taught,  2  Cor.  ii. 
he  calls  them  Satan's  ministers ;  and  wherever  they  come  to  **■ 
you  for  that  end,  ye  are  to  take  them  for  no  other. 

From  hence  it  is,  that  as  sin  is  called  the  poison  of  serpents,  Ps.  58.  4. 
in  the  Psalms,  so  they  that  are  poisoned  with  it  and  give 
themselves  over  to  it,  are  called  a  generation  of  serpents  in  Mat.  3.  7; 
the  Gospel ;    and   he  that  poisons   them,  a  piercing  and  a     •    >    ^• 
crooked  serpent,  in  Isaiah ;  a  scorpion  or  a  stinging  serpent,  ica.  27. 1. 
in  St.  Luke;  a  dragon  and  the  old  serpent,  in  St.  John.  j^^y  2^  2 

And  this  serpent  it  was  that  here  seduced  the  woman,  in 
the  form  and  shape  of  a  natural  serpent ;  from  taking  which 
form  and  shape  upon  him  here  at  first,  he  had  his  name 
given  him  ever  after.  It  is  usually  said  that  he  possessed 
and  entered  into  the  body  of  the  serpent ;  most  of  the  best 


230     Why  our  first  parents  were  permitted  to  be  tempted. 

SB  EM.  writers '^  that  I  have  met  withal,  incline  to  say,  and  so  do 

XVI  . 
—  I,  that  he  took  only  his  shape  or  likeness  upon  him  and  was 

but  personatus  serpens,  as  in  Saul's  case  he  was  but  person- 
ating Samuel.     Somewhat  it  is  that  Peter  Lombard',  the 
Master  of  the  Sentences,  says  to  this  matter.     He  proposes 
two  questions,  the  first  why  God  would  permit  the  devil  to 
tempt  our  first  parents  at  all;   and  he  resolves  that  out  of 
St. Austin,  that  it  was  ad  exercitium  obedientice^,  for  the 
exercise  and  trial  of  their  obedience,  whether  they  would 
stand  a  temptation  out  or  no,  as  they  had  grace,  strength, 
and  ability  to  have  done  it  if  they  would ;   and  if  they  had 
stood  it  out,  it  had  been  on  God's  part  but  like  the  trial  of 
Abraham,  they  would  have  got  the  more  glory  by  it,  as  he 
did  by  his,  quia  gloriosius  esset  tentanti  non  consensisse,  quam 
teniari  non  potuisse,  it  had  been  a  greater  glory  for  them  not 
to  have  given  way  to  the  temptation,  not  to  be  overcome  with 
it,  than  not  to  have  been  tempted  at  all.     Therefore,  says 
Luther  well,  God  deals  with  us  as  He  dealt  with  our  first 
parents.     No  sooner  did  He  create  them,  but  He  suflPered 
the  tempter  to  come  to  them ;  no  sooner  doth  He  baptize  us, 
but  He  puts  us  in  mind  to  resist  the  tempter;  for  one  or 
other  of  these  tempters,  whom  we  there  promise  to  resist, 
will  be  with  us  all  our  life  long:   with  us  to  make  us  run 
into  sin,  with  us  to  make  us  run  away  from  our  religion,  with 
us  to  make  us  murmur  and  give  over  hope  in  time  of  afflic- 
tion, every  way  and  every  where  with  us;  and  all  this  by  the 
special  providence  and  permission  of  God,  and  for  the  greater 
trial  of  our  faith  and  obedience  towards  Him,  to  prove  us 

"'  Quinta  et  ultima   sententia    est,  et  disertissimis  verbis  explicat  tuetur- 

quam  nos  solam  approbamus  et  am-  que  Augustinus  tam  in  libris  de  Civi- 

plectimur,  fuisse  in  ea  tentatione  verum  tate  Dei  (lib.  xiv.  cap.  11.)  quam  in 

et  naturalem  serpentem,  in  quern  tamen  Genesi  ad  litteram,  (lib.  ii.  cap.  27.) 

sese  diabolus  insinuavit,  et  per  eura  — Perer.  ad  Genes.,  torn.  1.  p.  194. 

quasi  per  organum  suum  formavit  vo-  '  Prseterea   quaeri    solet   cur   Deus 

ces  humanas,  et  sermonera  cum  Eva  hominem  tentari  permiserit  quem  di- 

miscens,  callida  et  malitiosa  tentatione  ripiendum  fore  praesciebat  ?    Sed   non 

earn  decepit.     Haec  sententia  est  pro-  esset    laudabile  homini   si   ideo   bene 

bata  fere  Patribus,  ut  videre  licet  apud  vivere  posset,  quia  nemo  male  vivere 

Basilium,  Chrysostomum,  et  Theodo-  suaderet;   cum  in  natura  posset  et  in 

return,  Bedam  et  Rupertum,  in  suis  potestate  habere  vellet  non  consentire 

vel    Homiliis    vel    Quaestionibus    vel  suadenti,  Deo  juvante;    et  est  glorio- 

Commentariis  in  Genesim,  apud  Da-  sius  non  consentire  quam  tentari  non 

mascenum,    lib.    ii.    de    Fide    Ortho-  posse.— (August,  super   Gen.,  lib.  ii. 

doxa,  cap.  x.  et   apud  Magist.   Sent.,  cap.  4.)  P.  Lombardi  Sentent.,  lib.  ii. 

lib.  ii.  dist.  21.  et  ibid.    Scholasticos  distinct.  23.  A. 

Theologos:  quam  senteutiam  plurimis  "'  Pet.  Lomb.,  lib.  ii.  dist.  21.  A. 


IV /it/  the  devil  came  in  the  likeness  of  a  serpent.       231 

how  steadfastly  we  will  hold  to  Him.    Which  faith,  if  it  holds 

out  the  trial  and  changes  not,  grows  not  the  worse  for  it,  is 

a  trial  more  precious,  saith  St.  Peter,  than  that  of  gold,  the  i  Pet.  1.7. 

trial  of  gold  in  the  fire,  where  the  pure  and  true  metal  wasteth 

not  at  all.     This  was  an  answer  to  Lombard's  first  question, 

why  God  would  suffer  Eve  to  be  tempted  by  the  devil. 

The  second  is,  why  He  would  sufi'er  the  devil  to  come  to 
her  in  the  likeness  of  a  serpent? 

And  this  he  resolves  first,  in  the  general,  that  in  some 
likeness  or  other  he  was  to  come,  when  he  came  to  tempt 
and  seduce  ;  otherwise  if  he  had  come  altogether  unmasked, 
in  his  own  likeness,  he  would  have  been  taken  for  no  tempter 
at  all,  and  there  would  have  been  no  trial  neither,  no  con- 
versing,  no  conference  entertained  with  him  at  all.  A  tempter 
must  shroud  himself  in  another  form,  and  ever  come  in  some 
likeness  that  is  a  little  better  than  his  own.  There  are  them 
that  have  wished  to  see  the  devil ;  they  shall  never  see  him 
as  he  is  yet,  that  must  be  reserved  for  another  time;  but  in 
the  several  forms  of  temptation  they  may  see  him  every  day. 
And  though  the  woman  at  Endor  could  help  Saul  to  a  sight  1  Sam  27. 
of  him  ;  yet  in  his  own  likeness,  it  was  past  her  skill  and  her 
permission  to  do  it,  for  this  is  one  of  the  chains  that  are  cast 
upon  those  evil  spirits,  wherewith  the  devil  and  his  angels 
are  bound  up,  who  are  reserved  in  everlasting  chains  under 
darkness,  saith  St.  Jude,  unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day,  Jude  6. 
never  to  appear  in  their  own  proper  likeness  till  then. 

In  some  other  therefore  it  was  to  be.  For  which  other  in 
particular  God  "  permitted  him  here  to  appear  in  the  likeness 
of  a  serpent,  who  among  all  the  beasts  of  the  field  was  said  Gen.  3. 1. 
to  be  the  wiliest  and  the  most  subtle  creature  of  all  the  rest, 
that  thereby  both  the  malice  and  subtilty  of  the  devil's  nature 
might  be  the  better  expressed,  for  that  was  most  agreeable 
to  him,  and  Eve  also  from  thence  have  the  better  warning 
by  him  what  his  nature  and  his  drift  was,  the  better  to  take 
heed  of  him.  For  otherwise  if  he  might  have  had  his  own 
will,  and  been  suffered  to  come  in  what  likeness  he  would 


"  Non  est  putandum  quod  diabolus  missus  est     Nocendi  enim   cupiditas 

serpentem  per  quein  tentaret  elegerit ;  inest  cuique  a  se,  sed  potestas  a  Deo 

sed  cum  decipere  cuperet,  non  potuit  solo   est.  —  S.  August,   de   Genesi  ad 

nisi  per  quod  animal  posset  a  Deo  per-  litteram,  lib.  ii.  cap.  3. 


232  TVhat  Eve  supposed  the  serpent  to  be. 

SERM.  have  chosen  himself,  peradventure,  says  the  Master  of  the 


Schools,  and  it  is  most  likely,  that  the  devil  would  have 
rather  chosen  the  likeness  of  a  dove  than  the  likeness  of 
a  serpent,  the  sooner  to  deceive  her  °. 

And  so  from  this  first  point,  what  he  was,  we  are  now  come 
at  last  to  the  second, — for  that  will  be  all  I  shall  be  able  to 
despatch  to-day — what  Eve  here  supposed  and  took  him 
to  be. 

.  The  question  is,  whether  she  took  him  to  be  the  serpent, 
or  one  of  the  evil  spirits  in  the  serpent's  likeness  ?  If  we  say 
she  took  him  to  be  the  natural  and  brute  serpent,  we  run 
upon  the  former  rock ;  it  will  be  unreasonable  to  imagine 
it,  that  she, — who  wanted  nothing  of  the  perfection  of  all 
knowledge  and  the  insight  into  the  nature  and  condition  of 
all  creatures  then,  when  she  was  in  the  state  of  her  integrity, 
— should  not  better  know  the  nature  and  condition  of  a  brute 
serpent,  than  to  think  that  one  of  them  could  speak  and  dis- 
course to  her,  could  persuade  and  argue  with  her  like  a 
reasonable  creature  p.     Then  that  was  not  it. 

Again,  if  we  say  she  knew  him  to  be  the  devil,  who  had 
got  that  shape  upon  him ;  if  she  knew  him  to  be  one  of 
those  wicked  spirits  whom  she  knew  to  be  fallen  from 
their  Maker,  as  she  did,  there  will  be  another  question  to 
assoil  and  answer.  Why  did  she  then  converse  with  him? 
Why  did  she  listen  to  him  at  all  i  ? 

For  the  answering  of  which  question,  besides  her  curiosity 
that  here  transported  her,  and  the  liberty  of  her  will  that 
gave  her  leave  for  her  trial  to  converse  with  any  creature  or 
spirit  whatsoever,  we  are  likewise  to  enquire  what  induce- 
ments she  had  to  converse  with  this  spirit  rather  in  this 
kind  of  likeness,  the  likeness  of  a  serpent,  than  another. 
237.  First,  this  she  knew,  that  the  serpent  was  the  wisest  and 

the  subtlest  of  all  the  beasts  of  the  field  that  God  had  made  ; 
this  chapter  begins  with  it,  and  thereby  implies  the  woman's 

'  Ut  ergo  in  propria  forma  non  ve-  p  Tho.  Aquin.  in  1  par.  q.  94.  art. 

niret,  voluntate  sua  propria  factum  est ;  ult. 

ut  autem  in  forma  suEe  malitiae  con-  i  See  Pererius  in  Genes.,  torn.  i.  p. 

gruenti  veniret,  divinitus  factum   est.  190,  where  he  discusses  the  question, 

Venit  ergo  ad  honiinem  in   serpente,  'Cur    Eva    non    obstupuerit    audiens 

qui  forte,  si  ptrmitteretur,  in  columbae  secum  loquentem  et  disputantem  ser- 

specie  venire   maluisset. — Pet.  Lomb.  pentem.' 
Sentent.,  lib.  ii.  dist.  21.  B. 


Grounds  upon  which  her  supposition  was  founded.     233 

opinion  of  the  devil's  wisdom ;  who,  unless  he  had  been  a 
very  knowing  and  sagacious  spirit,  would  never  have  taken 
the  shape  of  that  subtle  creature  upon  him.  For  otherwise 
to  what  end  are  these  words  here  spoken?  This  therefore 
I  suppose  she  knew. 

Secondly,  this  she  knew  also,  that  a  spirit,  if  he  will  be  p.  237. 
conversed  withal,  must  present  himself  in  some  corporal 
shape  or  other;  for  in  reason  we  know  as  much  ourselves, 
that  otherwise  there  can  be  no  conversing  with  him ;  and 
the  most  knowing  of  us  all  are  far  short  of  Eve,  of  the  per- 
fect knowledge  that  she  had  then,  as  in  all  things  else,  so 
in  this,  which  we  know  still ;  that  as  in  natural  and  bodily 
things,  unless  those  things  have  some  proportion  each  to 
other,  there  can  be  no  intercourse  of  action  between  them ; 
which  is  the  law  that  God  has  ordained  them.  So  likewise 
in  things  invisible,  which  therefore  converse  not  with  things 
that  are  visible,  but  in  a  visible  form.  And  this  is  so  true, 
that  all  the  Scripture  over  we  shall  not  find  any  such  in- 
visible spirit  presented,  whether  good  or  bad,  to  men  here 
below,  but  they  come  in  some  corporal  figure  or  other,  even 
in  the  very  dreams  and  visions  of  the  night;  which  is  enough 
to  confute  their  vanity  that  say  they  would  fain  see  a  spirit ; 
for  a  spirit,  as  he  is,  cannot  be  seen.  This  therefore  I  sup- 
pose likewise  that  Eve  knew  well. 

Thirdly,  and  lastly,  this  she  knew,  that  as  these  spirits,  if  p-  238. 
at  any  time  they  were  permitted  to  come,  they  were  to  come 
in  some  outward  and  visible  form,  so  was  the  form  always  tu 
be  such  as  might  best,  less  or  more,  resemble  their  condition. 
In  which  respect  we  shall  not  read  that  God  ever  suffered  a 
good  and  a  bad  spirit,  a  noble  and  an  ignoble  one,  an  Angel 
and  a  devil  to  appear  unto  men  after  the  same  fashion. 
Therefore  good  Angels  never  came  in  any  other  shape  but 
the  shape  of  a  man ;  and  not  in  his  neither,  as  he  is  now, 
fallen  into  the  deformity  of  age  and  sin,  but  as  he  was  in  his 
glorious  beauty  of  integrity  and  lustre  before  his  fall.  So  of 
the  Angel  that  appeared  in  the  Gospel,  it  is  said  there  that  Mat.  28.  3. 
his  countenance  was  like  lightning  and  his  raiment  as  white 
as  snow ;  all  in  glory  and  perfection,  all  in  sublimity  and 
purity.  Whereas  on  the  contrary,  the  bad  angels  come  either 
in  no  human  shape  at  all ;  or  if  they  do,  it  is  as  it  was  at 


234  Summarij  of  the  investigation. 

SEEM.  Endor,  commonly  like  an  old  decrepit  man  with  a  mantle  upon 
his  shoulder.    And  yet  were  they  not  suffered  to  come  in  that 


14.  form  of  man  neither  before  his  fall  j  the  case  is  otherwise  now, 

and  no  marvel,  since  one  fallen  star  may  well  resemble  another. 
But  while  man  was  in  his  integrity  and  perfection,  the  devil 
might  not  be  then  suffered  to  take  his  form  upon  him  at  all. 
For  being  himself  fallen,  through  his  pride  and  ambition, 
from  his  own  state  of  glory  and  perfection  which  he  had 
above,  he  was  now  permitted  to  appear  in  that  shape  only 
which  might  declare  his  present  state  of  abasement  and  im- 
perfection here  below,  to  which  end  and  purpose  there  was 
nothing  more  fit  for  him  than  the  shape  of  a  serpent, 

p.  239.  Now  put  all  these  together  and  there  needs  not  such  a 

wonder  to  be  made,  as  otherwhiles,  for  want  of  searching 
into  the  reasons  and  grounds  of  this  Scripture,  there  is; 
either  why  the  devil  should  come  in  the  form  of  a  serpent, 
or  why  Eve  in  that  form  should  entertain  him.  For  though 
she  knew  him  to  be  one  of  the  abased  spirits,  not  permitted 
to  appear  in  any  sensible  form  "■,  yet  by  the  shape  he  came 
and  appeared  in,  the  shape  of  the  subtlest  creature  that  was 
in  the  field,  she  concluded  with  herself  that  he  was  a  very 
subtle  and  sagacious  spirit,  likely  enough  to  search  further 
into  God's  meaning  and  to  know  more  of  it  by  his  own  ex- 
perience, than  she  yet  did  ^     And  this  undid  her. 

The  conclusion  of  all  is,  that  her  high  opinion  of  the  ex- 
cellent wit  and  sagacity  that  was  in  this  spirit,  and  the 
strong  apprehension  that  she  had  of  his  great  knowledge 
and  wisdom  above  her  own,  and  above  the  word  of  God,  and 
all,  made  her  clean  forget  both  herself  and  it,  and  so  brought 
her  to  her  ruin. 

A  lesson  for  us  all  to  take  timely  heed  of  all  those  evils 
which  the  craft  and  subtilty  of  the  devil  or  man  worketh 
against  us;  not  over  hastily  to  be  carried  away  with  a 
sudden  apprehension  and  a  high  opinion  of  men's  excellent 
wits  and  abilities,  whatever  they  are,  without  a  special  eye 
and  regard  first  had  to  the  known  words  and  command- 


'  Perer.  in  Genes.,  lib.  v.  q.  4.  §  35.  by  Estius  in  lib.  ii.  Sentent.  dist.  21. 

torn.  i.  p.  170.  §  4,  in  answer  to  the  question,  'Cur 

•  See  S.  The.  i.  p.  q.  94,  art.  4.  ad  2,  mulier  serpentem  eumque  loquentem 

and  the  opinions  which  are  examined  non  horruerit.' 


How  the  effect  of  this  sin  is  to  be  remedied.  235 

ments  of  God ;  the  neglect  whereof,  both  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion and  in  matters  of  moral  life,  and  all,  hath  ever  been, 
and  now  is,  the  greatest  occasion  of  the  greatest  errors  and 
wickedness  in  the  world,  whiles  the  devil  under  this  mask 
and  in  this  cup  carries  some  serpentine  poison  for  us  to 
drink.  A  theme  I  have  no  time  to  prosecute  now,  but 
I  will  resume  it  again  in  the  next  sermon,  for  this  is 
done,  and  I  think  the  hour  is  done.  We  are  to  go  to 
the  Sacrament. 

Where  we  shall  have  a  spiritual  meat  to  eat,  and  a  cup  to 
drink  of  the  New  Testament  that  will  cure  us  of  the  serpent's 
poison  which  we  contracted  here  from  the  Old.  I  told  you 
besides  of  calix  dcemoniorum.  We  have  all  been  eating  of 
this  forbidden  fruit  and  tasting  of  that  forbidden  cup,  more 
or  less,  every  one  of  us,  as  well  as  our  mother  Eve.  And 
there  is  no  cure  for  us,  but  this  that  Christ  brings  us,  for 
He  drank  off  our  cup  of  wrath,  the  fruit  of  our  sins,  that  we 
might  drink  His  cup  of  blessing,  the  fruit  of  His  passion. 
Which  He  of  His  mercy  make  effectual  to  us.  That  pre- 
pared that  cup  and  endured  that  passion  for  us,  Jesus  Christ 
the  righteous,  to  Whom  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  three  Persons  and  one  eternal  Deity,  be  all  honour 
and  glory,  now  and  for  evermore.     Amen. 


SEEM  ON  XVIT. 


XVII. 


pAKis,  MARCH  26,  1651.  [new  style.] 
QUINTA    DOMINICA    QUADEAGESIM^. 

We  shall  make  an  end  to-day  of  our  last  text  in  the  third 
chapter  of  Genesis,  the  thirteenth  verse. 

And  the  woman  said,  The  serpent  beguiled  me. 

SEEM.  Two  questions  there  were;  first,  what  this  serpent  was 
indeed;  and  secondly,  what  Eve  supposed  him  to  be. 

I  told  you  of  resemblances  that  were  no  true  stories; 
I  made  good  this  story  to  be  no  feigned  resemblance. 

For  first,  it  was  a  serpent  here  that  could  speak,  and  hold 
conference  with  Eve  a  good  while  together;  and  then  it  was 
a  serpent  that  could  dispute  and  give  her  divers  reasons, 
such  as  they  were,  against  the  precept  that  God  had  given 
her  before. 

Which  makes  it  clear  that  it  would  be  none  of  the  natural 
and  brute  serpent,  this,  as  Julian  the  apostate  said  it  was, 
who  would  needs  take  it  for  no  other,  and  thereupon  both 
rejected  this  story  and  blasphemed  all  the  Holy  Scriptures 
besides,  that  depend  upon  it.  But,  as  St.  Cyril,  that  was  in 
his  time  the  Patriarch  of  Alexandria,  told  him,  there  was 
never  any  man  before  him  so  unreasonable  as  to  think  or  say 
it  was  the  unreasonable  serpent  itself;  for  how  could  that 
creature,  that  had  no  language  at  all,  confer  with  Eve  in  her 
own  language,  as  this  serpent  did  ?  Or  from  whence  should 
he  take  knowledge  what  commandment  God  had  laid  upon 
her,  as  this  serpent  likewise  did,  before  she  had  told  him  of 
it?   Never  let  Juhan,  never  let  any  of  his  disciples,  trouble 


Division  of  the  subject.  237 

themselves    about   the   brute   serpent ;    Moses   here   meant 

another ;  and  for  some  other  person,  that  had  assumed  upon 

him  that  shape  only,  did  Eve  take  him. 

She  took  him  to  be,  as  he  was,  one  of  those  spirits  that 

had  been  in  heaven ;  and  though  now  fallen  down  from  his 

first  station,  yet  having  once  been  there,  was  likely  enough 

to   know    more   than   she  did,   which  tempted   her  to  her 

curiosity,  and  that  curiosity  undid  her. 

For  the  better  understanding  whereof,  we  are  to  reflect 

here  (1.)  upon  the  form  wherein  he  appeared  ; 
(2.)  Then  upon  himself; 
(3.)  And  next  upon  the  woman,  who  says  now  she  was 

beguiled  by  him.     Three  heads  whereof  this  sermon  will  be' 

made. 

But  before  we  begin  to  preach,  I  am  to  invite  you  all 
to  pray,  as  for  God's  grace  and  blessing  upon  us  now,  so 
that  now  and  always  ye  would  make  your  daily  supplica- 
tions and  prayers  for  the  good  estate  of  Christ's  Catholic 
Church,  and  for  the  peace  and  welfare  of  all  Christian 
kings  and  princes. 

More  especially  for  the  distressed  estate  &c. 

Pater  Noster,  S^c. 

That  we  may  apprehend  this  Scripture  right,  we  are  to 
reflect  first,  upon  the  form  wherein  this  seducing  spirit  was 
permitted  to  appear.  And  somewhat  we  began  to  say  of  it 
before  ;  now  we  go  on. 

It  is  said  here  at  the  beginning  of  tliis  chapter,  that  the  p-  232. 
serpent  was  subtle,  the  subtlest  of  all  the  other  beasts  of 
the  field  which  God  had  made.  And  this  we  will  suppose 
that  both  the  evil  spirit  knew,  who  therefore  meant  to  make 
his  use  of  it ;  and  that  Eve  knew  it  besides,  who  for  that 
very  reason  was  taken  with  a  high  opinion  of  this  spirit's 
wisdom,  and  conceived  him  to  be  no  other  than  a  very 
subtle  and  sagacious  spirit  at  least,  that  had  gotten  that 
form  of  a  subtle  and  a  wise  serpent  upon  him,  above  all 
others  making  choice  of  that. 

Then  this  likewise  we  must   suppose,    that   in   his   own  p.  233. 
proper  likeness  he  could  not  any  way  either  confer  with  her. 


238  Recapitulation  of  what  had  been  said 

SEEM,  or  appear  to  her  at  all  j  for  then  there  had  been  no  propor- 

XVII        •  •  •  •  . 
'—  tion  between  them,  without  which  there  is  not  any  intercourse 

of  action  or  passion  in  any  thing.  A  general  and  an  ex- 
perienced law  that,  which  God  hath  ordained  to  all  things ; 
and  therefore  things  invisible  and  removed  from  our  senses, 
must  be  one  way  or  other  made  to  be  sensible  to  us,  before 
we  can  have  any  conversing  with  them.  Which  is  so  true, 
that  all  the  Scripture  over,  we  shall  not  find  any  of  these 
created  spirits,  whether  good  or  bad,  appearing  and  present- 
ing themselves  to  men,  but  in  some  bodily  figure  or  other. 
Therefore  the  woman  at  End  or,  when  Saul  came  to  her  and 
desired  her  to  let  him  have  a  sight  of  the  devil,  that  he  might 
the  better  confer  with  him,  though  she  had  leave  to  fetch 

Sam.  28.  him  up,  yet  in  his  own  likeness  to  do  it,  it  was  beyond  her 
skill  and  her  permission  both.     For  this  is  one  of  the  devil's 

ude  6.  chains,  whereof  St.  Jude  speaks  when  he  says  the  devil  and 
his  angels  are  bound  up  and  reserved  in  everlasting  chains  of 
darkness,  there  to  remain  unto  the  judgment  of  the  great 
day,  and  never  to  appear  in  their  own  likeness  till  then ;  and 
then  they  shall  see  him  soon  enough  that  have  been  so 
desirous  to  see  him  before ;  but  as  yet  he  shall  never  be  seen 
as  he  is,  nor  he,  nor  any  spirit  of  them  all.  And  it  is  no  way 
improbable  to  say,  that  Eve  here  knew  as  much. 

Thirdly,  this  she  might  well  know  besides;  that  as  they 
came  not  in  their  own  likeness,  so  the  likeness  they  came  in 
was  less  or  more  a  resemblance  of  their  own  condition,  and 
a  token  of  what  nature  and  quality  they  had  in  them.  In 
which  respect  we  shall  never  read  again,  unless  it  be  in 
a  legend,  that  God  ever  suflfered  a  good  and  a  bad  spirit, 
a  noble  and  an  ignoble  one,  to  appear  and  come  to  men  after 
one  and  the  same  manner;  but  good  Angels  always  in  the 
likeness  of  men,  and  in  that  likeness  wherein  man  was  at 
first  created,  without  any  deformities  of  sin  or  age  upon  him, 
when  he  was  yet  in  a  state  of  perfection  and  beauty,  the 
better  to  express  the  state  and  condition  that  those  glorious 
Angels  now  have ;  bad  angels  either  appearing  in  no  human 
figure  at  all,  or  else  with  those  marks  of  malice  and  impurity 
upon  them,  as  might  best  also  express  their  own  malicious 
property  and  condition  with  it.  Indeed  it  is  no  great  wonder 
now,  if  since  the  fall  of  man,  this  seducing  spirit  comes  other- 


233. 


as  to  Eve's  speculations  concerning  the  serpent.        S39 

whiles  to  them  that  will  entertain  him,  in  the  likeness  of 
seducing  and  wicked  men,  in  a  human  shape  now ;  but  before 
the  fall  there  was  no  such  permission  given  him,  for  because 
fallen  into  the  state  of  imperfection  and  wickedness  himself, 
which  as  yet  man  was  not,  the  state  of  man's  perfection  and 
integrity  was  not  yet  for  him.  Afterwards  it  might  well  be, 
for  one  falling  star  may  well  enough  resemble  another ;  but 
he  being  withal  a  subtle  and  a  wily  spirit,  there  was  nothing 
more  agreeable  for  him  to  assume  now,  nor,  as  we  see  it 
proved  too,  more  likely  to  win  the  woman's  great  opinion  of 
his  wisdom,  and  to  take  her  in  his  snare,  than  to  take  this 
shape  of  the  subtle  and  wily  serpent,  which  he  knew  that  she 
also  knew  to  be  then  the  wisest  and  the  subtlest  creature  of 
the  field.  Since  the  curse  that  went  here  upon  the  devil  and 
him  together,  the  case  may  be  altered,  but  then  it  was  so. 

All  which  put  together,  renders  this  text  to  be  somewhat  p,  234. 
the  clearer,  and  not  altogether  so  improbable  even  to  very 
natural  reason  and  sense  itself  as  some  men,  that  never  yet 
sat   down  to  weigh  and  consider  it  well,  have  imagined  it 
to  be. 

But  if  we  add  the  sense  that  all  the  other  Scriptures  have 
given  it,  as  we  have  great  reason,  and  the  greatest  of  the 
world  to  believe  what  they  say  in  all  things,  so  we  shall  have 
the  greatest  authority  of  the  world  that  can  be  given  us  for 
this  particular. 

The  authority  of  the  Prophets,  and  Apostles,  and  of  Christ  p.  229. 
Himself,  who  whenever  they  have  occasion  to  speak  of  the 
first  coming  in  of  sin  and  death  into  the  world,  they  reflect 
all  upon  this  story ;  and  from  the  form  and  figure  of  a  ser- 
pent, that  the  devil  was  permitted  to  take  upon  him  here 
at  the  beginning,  they  gave  him  his  name  and  express  his 
nature  by  it  ever  after.  I  need  not  trouble  you  witii  many 
places.  St.  Paul,  where  he  tells  us  of  the  serpent  that  be-  2Cor.ii.3. 
guiled  Eve,  he  calls  that  serpent  the  devil,  and  says  he  is 
afraid  of  him  still,  lest  he  should  by  his  under-agents  be  as 
busy  with  any  of  us,  as  he  was  with  her,  and  get  away  from 
us  either  the  truth  of  our  religion  or  the  sincerity  of  our  life. 

And  hence  it  is,  that  as  sin  is  called  the  poison  of  serpents,  Ps.  58.  4. 
in  the  Psalms;  so  they  that  are  poisoned  with  it  are  called  Mat. 23. 33. 
a  generation  of  serpents,  in  the  Gospel ;  and  he  that  poisons 


240  What  Eve  svpposed  the  serpent  to  be. 

SEEM,  them,  a  piercing  and  a  biting  serpent,  in  the  Prophets;  a 

— ^  scorpion  and  a  stinging  serpent,  a  dragon  and  the  old  serpent, 

Amos  9.  3.  in  St.  John.     And  so  we  have  done  with  his  form,  that  here 
Eev.  20.2-  ^^  assumed,  or  was  permitted  to  assume  upon  himself. 
■^^'  ^"  II.  The  next  point  is,  what  Eve  took  him  to  be,  and  the 

excellency  of  that  wit  and  sagacity  that  she  conceived  to  be 
in  him  ;  for  both  by  his  appearing  to  her,  first  in  this  manner 
as  he  did,  and  then  by  telling  her  such  strange  news  out  of 
heaven,  as  well  concerning  God  there,  from  Whose  presence 
he  was  lately  departed,  therefore  knew  His  mind  better  than 
she  did,  as  concerning  herself  here,  whom  out  of  his  special 
care  and  regard  towards  her,  as  he  made  her  believe,  he  was 
now  come  to  save  and  preserve  for  ever;  such  an  opinion  he 
had  by  this  time  bred  in  her  that  she  took  him  to  be  no  less 
than  a  spirit  of  some  extraordinary  wisdom  and  knowledge 
at  the  least,  likely  enough  to  help  her  to  more  skill  and  to 
bring  her  into  a  better  estate  than  God  had  formerly  pro- 
vided for  her.  But  this  undid  her,  when  she  laid  aside 
God's  own  word  and  listened  after  another. 

It  undoes  all  the  world,  this ;  and  has  been,  as  it  was  here 
at  first,  this  conceited  opinion  of  getting  more  help  by  others 
than  we  are  ever  like  to  do  by  God  Himself,  the  greatest 
cause  of  the  greatest  mischief  and  errors  in  the  world. 

For  from  hence  came  in  all  the  old  idolatry  and  corrup- 
tions of  the  world,  when  having  men's  persons  in  admiration, 
Judeie.  as  St.  Jude  speaks,  because  of  some  advantage  that  they 
looked  for  from  them,  they  served  them  better  and  trusted 
them  more,  both  alive  and  dead,  than  they  did  the  God  of 
heaven  and  earth.  Whom  they  knew  all  had  made  them  all 
to  another  purpose.  But  advantage  and  interest,  wherein 
they  were  deceived  too  as  well  as  Eve  was  here,  carried 
it  then,  and  so  does  it  still. 

Else,  how  comes  the  new-found  idolatry  to  be  exalted  and 
continued  in  the  world  so  much  as  it  is  ?  nisi  quia  inde 
Acts  19. 24.  acqiiisitio  nobis,  as  Demetrius  and  the  craftsmen  said  of  that 
spirit  which  they  called  their  Diana,  but  that  they  promise 
themselves  more  by  it,  more  indulgence  for  this  life  and 
more  security  for  the  next  than  ever  they  can  hope  to  receive 
at  God's  hands,  if  they  should  keep  themselves  so  precisely 
to  His  express  word  which  He  hath  enjoined  them  ? 


All  sin  is  error.  241 

The  devil  told  Eve  that  it  might  be  all  that  God  said  was 
not  true,  and  she  believed  him  ;  they  do  little  less  that  say 
more  is  true  than  God  ever  revealed  to  us,  and  credit  a 
lying  spirit  that  speaks  traditions  and  revelations  to  them 
of  their  own  making,  more  than  they  do  all  that  Moses  and 
the  Prophets  have  said  besides. 

This  made  St.  Paul  to  say  that  the  mystery  of  iniquity  2The8.2.7. 
began  thus  to  work  even  in  his  time ;  and  he  meant  no  other 
mystery  but  the  bringing  in  of  new  devices  in  religion,  and 
giving  ear  to   seducing   spirits,  which   he   calls   there   the 
doctrines  of  devils,  reflecting  upon  this  story  where  the  devil  i Tim.  4.1. 
preached  to  Eve  another  manner  of  doctrine  than  God  had  ^3^"""  ^' 
ever  taught  her.     But  such  doctrines  never  come  alone ;  the 
Apostle  says  they  used  to  bring  a  train  after  them,  and  so  1  Tim.  4. 
they  do,  the  train  of  all  manner  of  sins  and  iniquities,  wher- 
ever they  are;    which  was  the  fruit  that  it  brought  forth 
here,  besides  all  other  mischiefs  and  miseries  of  the  world 
that  followed  it  after ;  as  such  miseries,  unless  it  be  in  most 
places  better  heeded  and  better  restrained  than  we  see  yet 
it  is,  are  like  to  follow  it  still. 

I  will  say  no  more  in  this  point,  but  that  we  ought  so 
heedfully  to  admit  and  entertain  a  tempter,  when  at  any 
time  those  evil  spirits  come  to  us  to  corrupt  either  our  life 
or  religion,  as  that  God's  eternal  word  and  commandment 
be  ever  in  our  eye ;  without  which  fixed  pole-star  to  guide 
us,  we  shall  be  carried  we  know  not  whither;  but  Eve  was 
carried  here  to  her  ruin. 

And  so  I  come  to  the  third  point,  and  the  last ;  that  this 
tempter,  this  serpentine  devil,  beguiled  her. 

III.  There  is  a  guile  in  every  sin  of  the  world  :  I  shall 
shew  you  both  what  it  is,  and  what  it  was  here ;  for  guile 
is  nothing  else  but  a  piece  of  the  devil's  sophistry  to  deceive 
us  with  a  false  syllogism,  the  premises  whereof  being  both 
counterfeit,  needs  must  the  conclusion  be  altogether  er- 
roneous. It  argues  for  a  seeming  good,  and  ends  in  a  real 
evil;  pretending  to  pleasure  us,  it  either  bereaves  us  of  that 
good  we  hoped  for,  or  brings  upon  us  that  evil  which  we 
never  expected.  Such  a  deceit  there  is,  and  such  another 
practical  syllogism  do  we  all  make,  in  every  sin  we  commit. 
For  as  the  root  is,  so  are  the  branches ;  and  from  this  root  Rom,  11. 

COSIN.  ^  ■*■ 


242  The  points  in  which  Eve  was  deceived. 

SEEM,  and  practice  here  at  the  beginning  came  the  offspring  of 
— '- —  sin  ever  since. 

There  are  in  every  action,  and  so  in  every  sin,  two  things 
whereof  it  consists ;  the  choice  of  our  end,  and  the  means  to 
attain  that  end.  "If  either  of  these  be  wrong,  there  is  a  sin 
committed;  and  in  both  of  them  is  this  practical  sophistry  to 
be  seen,  which  the  schools  call  a  fallacy,  and  we  the  deceit 
or  guile  of  sin. 

These  two  they  are,  either  when  an  evil  end  is  presented 
to  us  in  the  counterfeit  of  a  good,  and  so  we  find  ourselves 
deceived  in  the  event  j  or  else  when  we  use  such  means  as 
he  neither  lawful  nor  suflEicient  to  attain  our  end,  and  so 
we  find  ourselves  deceived  in  the  premises  j  being  both  so 
masked  and  covered  over  with  a  seeming  advantage,  that 
they  appear  to  us  in  a  likeness  far  otherwise  than  they  are. 

And  with  both  these  sorts  of  guile  was  she  here  deceived. 
So  are  we  all. 

1.  First,  in  the  end,  by  making  it  seem  a  thing  desirable 
and  above  all  other  ends  to  aim  at,  this,  that  she  might  have 
her  own  will,  and  do  what  she  list ;  for  then  she  should  be 
like  unto  God  Himself,  and  be  an  independent;  no  power  in 
Ger.  3.  5.  heaven  and  earth  should  control  her,  a  bait  laid  to  take  her 
and  gilded  over  with  Eritis  sicut  dii,  which  seems  to  be  one  of 
the  most  desirable  things  of  the  world.  This  deceived  her  first. 

Then  in  the  means,  next,  by  persuading  her  that  if  the  end 
be  good  and  desirable,  as  it  did  but  seem  to  be  neither,  she 
might  then  take  her  liberty  again,  and  make  use  of  any 
means  whatsoever  to  compass  it ;  though  it  were  the  breach 
of  God's  severe  commandment  to  the  contrary,  not  to  stand 
upon  it,  or  regard  ever  a  precept  of  them  all,  but  to  venture, 
and  put  Him  to  it  whether  that  which  He  had  said  were 
true  or  no,  or  the  danger  so  great  as  He  had  made  it.  For 
either  it  was  not  so  certain  as  it  might  seem  to  be,  or  else 
that  iniquity  which  might  be  in  the  action  would  be  counter- 
vailed abundantly,  both  with  the  end  and  advantage  that 
should  be  gotten  by  it,  for  she  should  be  made  what  she 
would,  and  with  the  content  and  delight  that  she  should 
Gen.  3.  6.  find  in  it  besides,  for  it  was  a  pleasant  thing  to  look  upon, 
and  some  contentment  there  is  to  do  that  which  we  are 
forbidden,  for  then  we  have  our  will,  and  there  is  no  lord 
over  us  for  the  while. 


Necessity  of  caution  against  these  wiles.  243 

This  being  then  the  devil's  method  to  tempt  us  to  sin, 
in  this  his  first  act  we  may  behold,  as  in  a  glass,  the  art 
that  he  still  uses  to  corrupt  the  world,  and  to  bring  it  to 
utter  destruction.  All  his  method  is  nothing  else  but  guile. 
He  presents  all  things  fair  and  pleasant  to  the  view ;  and  if 
there  be  any  evil  in  them,  that  he  hides  with  his  mantle,  and 
suffers  not  any  sin  to  appear  before  us  in  its  own  ugly  and 
deformed  shape  that  it  has  of  itself,  for  so  every  one  would 
fly  from  it,  but  presents  works  of  vice  and  darkness  as  ob- 
jects of  beauty  and  delight;  and  when  he  plots  our  ruin 
and  everlasting  undoing,  he  bears  us  in  hand  that  all  aims 
at  our  contentment  and  felicity. 

It  behoves  us  to  be  jealous  and  suspicious  of  him,  though 
we  see  him  not  all  our  life  long.  For  he  will  neither  let  us 
see  him,  nor  our  sins,  in  their  own  likeness,  as  they  are,  no 
more  now  than  he  did  here  at  first. 

In  all  which  that  the  disguise  may  be  pulled  off,  and  the 
guile  that  lies  under  it  be  seen  the  better,  let  us  consider 
and  look  upon  them  both  again. 

The  end  first,  Eritis  sicut  dii,  you  shall  do  what  you  will  Gen.  3. 5. 
and  depend  upon  nobody  for  your  actions ;  the  height  and 
glory  of  which  end  so  strongly  possessed  her  aspiring  fancy 
that  the  means  to  attain  that  end,  whether  it  were  good  or 
bad,  she  little  regarded,  but  that  end  must  now  be  only 
prosecuted  and  had.  And  as  one  that  always  looks  upward 
in  his  walk,  and  sees  not  the  danger  that  lies  in  the  path 
wherein  he  goes,  till  he  falls  into  a  pit,  so  was  it  here; 
nothing  regarded  but  the  state  and  glory  of  what  was  pro- 
posed, in  what  condition  she  should  be  then.  Eritis  sicut 
dii,  was  the  state,  and  morte  moriemini  was  the  pit. 

Ero  similis  Altissimo,  says  the  devil ;  the  great  leviathan  Isa.  14.  u. 
himself  bit  at  that  bait  and  was  taken  with  it.  So  are  the 
lesser  creatures  after  him ;  Capiiur,  sed  capit ;  it  deceives 
them,  it  undoes  them  all  that  meddle  with  it.  And  this  by 
his  own  experience  he  knew  well  enough,  that  had  tried  it 
and  found  it  to  be  so  already. 

This  sets  him  at  work  for  others ;  and  he  gets  men  to  pro- 
pose ends  to  themselves  of  being  at  more  liberty  and  great- 
ness than  they  are,  that  when  they  are  out  of  God's  ordering 
they  may  fall  into  his  and  come  into  the  disorder  and  ruin 

a2 


244  Eve  desired  to  be  independent  of  God. 

SEEM,  which  he  fell  into  himself.     For  the  truth  is,  there  are  no 

XVII.  ,  . 
'■ —  such  disorderly,  no  such  miserable  persons  in  the  world,  nor 

nearer  akin  to  the  devil,  than  those  are  that  suffer  them- 
selves to  be  cheated  by  him,  as  she  here  did ;  out  of  God's 
Jas.  1. 25.  awe  and  service,  which  is  perfect  freedom,  to  take  his,  the 
devil's  livery  of  liberty  and  independency  upon  them,  which 
is  perfect  slavery,  a  perpetual  servitude  both  to  his  lusts 
and  their  own. 

"Which  made  Luther  to  wish,  and  truly  not  much  amiss, 
as  he  was  once  preaching  upon  this  text,  and  considering 
the  mischiefs  that  this  desire  and  practice  of  liberty  had 
brought  into  the  world.  Si  mihi  nunc  optio  daretur,  *  If  I 
might  have  my  mind,'  nollem  mihi  dari,  nollem  ullis  uspiam 
hominibus  dari  hanc  arbitrii  libertatem, '  I  would  neither  have 
any  freedom  of  my  will  myself,  and  I  would  that  neither 
Eve  nor  any  of  her  posterity  had  ever  had  it.'  For  he  saw 
such  ill  use  made  of  it  by  all  manner  of  persons,  both  in 
matters  of  religion  and  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  that  he 
judged  them  only  the  happiest  who  had  least  to  do  with  it. 
And  this  made  him  write  his  book  De  ^  servo  arbitrio ;  not 
that  man  had  no  free-will  at  all,  but  that  he  knew  not  how 
to  use  it  to  a  right  end,  without  suffering  the  devil  to  abuse 
it,  and  divert  it  to  a  wrong ;  for  God  He  had  bounded  it 
with  a  law,  and  liberty  will  be  lawless,  will  have  no  bounds 
to  keep  it  in,  nor  inclosures  to  limit  it. 

It  is  a  ranging  and  an  inconsiderate  will  that  most  men 
have,  of  a  temper  so  strangely  miswrought  by  this  first  cor- 
ruption, that  every  one  must  do  now  what  is  right  in  his 
own  eyes,  or  else  there  shall  be  neither  any  king  in  Israel 
nor  any  God  upon  the  earth.  Eritis  sicut  dii  will  not  yet  be 
got  out  of  them,  till  morte  morieris  comes ;  but  then  it  will 
be  found  what  conference  they  have  had  with  this  wicked 
spirit,  and  that  the  serpent  it  was,  whoever  they  are,  that 
beguiled  them  all. 

This  is  the  lawless  end  and  purpose  that  was  here  aimed 
at,  wherein  the  first  part  of  the  devil's  guile  appeared ;  for  it 
was  no  true  desirable  end  at  all,  it  was  the  ground  of  all 
pride  and  disorder,  and  she  persisted  in  it  besides. 

2.  But  then  secondly,  say  the  end  had  been  allowable  and 

»  0pp.  torn.  iii.  fol.  leS**.  edit.  1557. 


We  may  not  do  evil  that  good  may  follow.  245 

tlie  event  good,  yet  if  the  means  to  attain  that  end  be  not 
good  and  allowable  besides,  tliere  is  another  guile  com- 
mitted ;  and  so  it  was  here.  Where  the  devil  persuades  her 
that  to  compass  her  end  she  might  do  any  thing,  make  bold 
with  God's  severe  commandment,  and  all ;  and  seeing  tliere 
was  no  other  means  left  to  do  it,  to  venture  upon  that. 

Wherein  the  fallacy  lies,  either  in  that  false  rule  that  some 
evil  may  be  done  in  case  of  assurance,  or  hope,  that  some 
good  shall  come  of  it;  or  in  that  groundless  suggestion  that 
men  are  made  to  be  more  afraid  of  God's  commandments 
than  they  need  to  be,  and  that  the  danger  of  transgressing 
them  is  not  so  great  nor  so  perilous  as  the  world  is  borne  in 
hand  withal  it  is. 

Two  cases  here  first  brought  and  suggested  by  the  devil, 
whereof  the  world,  this  flesh  and  blood  of  Eve  to  which  they 
are  both  plausible,  and  that  would  fain  have  it  so,  hath  made 
but  an  ill  use  ever  since ;  for  they  do  but  deceive  and  beguile 
themselves  in  them  both. 

I  ask,  first,  what  evil  may  not  this  produce;  if  any  evil 
may  be  done  or  permitted,  that  any  good  may  come  of  it,  as 
she  here  thought  there  would  ?  Extend  it  further  to  any  case. 
It  is  not  lawful  in  any  act  of  our  life,  not  lawful  in  religion 
itself  to  do  any  evil  act  whatsoever,  either  to  maintain  the 
one  or  to  preserve  the  other,  not  to  preserve  the  world  itself. 
For  all  the  world  is  not  worth  one  sin ;  and  it  is  no  paradox 
to  say  it.  For  sin  takes  life,  the  life  of  man  and  the  life  of 
religion,  and  all,  the  soul  of  them  both ;  and  what  would  not 
a  man  give  for  his  life?  not  only  skin  for  skin,  and  all  that  Job 2.  4. 
he  has,  but  all  the  world  besides  if  he  had  it,  all  should  go, 
which,  if  it  were  worth  more,  he  would  not  then  so  easily 
part  withal.  But  for  matters  of  life,  first,  they  that  do  any 
evil  to  maintain  it,  if  they  come  to  lose  it  by  that  evil,  it  is 
but  an  evil  bargain  they  make  for  it ;  though  they  say  it 
is  to  keep  themselves  from  starving,  yet  if  it  be  the  for- 
bidden fruit,  under  which  term  all  manner  of  sin  was  here 
presented,  there  must  be  no  meddling  with  it. 

Tor  was  it  lawful  for  them  in  the  wilderness  to  run  back 
again  into  the  bondage  of  Egypt  that  they  might  keep 
themselves  from  starving?  It  was  one  of  the  devil's  sug- 
gestions that,  and   St.  Paul  wishes  us  to  take  notice  what 


246  Illustrations  of  what  has  been  advanced 

SEEM,  success  it  had,  when  God  grew  so  angry  with  them  for  it, 
^^^-     that  in  the  same  wilderness  He  destroyed  them  all. 
°^'    ■  '      Then  for  matters  of  religion,  to  preserve  that,  or  for  the 
avoiding  of  a  greater  evil,  to  prevent  that.     Was  it  lawful 

Ex.  32.  2.  for  Aaron  to  take  the  people's  ear-rings,  and  to  allow  them 
a  fond  idolatrous  religion  of  their  neighbours,  that  he  might 
keep  them  in  some  order,  and  save  himself  from  stoning  ? 
It  is  the  same  case  with  them  at  this  day,  or  very  near  it, 
that  say  for  their  excuse  they  must  of  necessity  give  way  to 
the  madness  of  their  people,  and  permit  them  somewhat  to 
busy  themselves  withal,  or  else  there  would  be  no  religion 
at  all,  nor  no  living  among  them.  Which  '  somewhat,'  if  we 
instance  but  in  two  cases,  that  of  images,  which  was  Aaron's 
case,  in  setting  them  up  to  be  openly  adored ;  that  of  pros- 
titutions, which  was  Lot's  case,  in  setting  those  houses  open, 
to  be  publicly  and  allowably  frequented :  which  they  say 
they  do  to  keep  up  the  people's  devotion  by  the  one,  and 
to  avoid  a  worse  mischief  by  the  other,  both  these.  There 
is  never  a  person  of  religion  and  judgment  among  them,  but 
they  know  well  enough  there  is  an  open  breach  of  God's  in- 
dispensable commandments  in  them  both ;  which  is  more 
than  Aaron  or  Lot  did,  having  no  other  argument  to  excuse 
it  but  what  the  serpent  here  beguiled  Eve  withal ;  that  the 
danger  in  these  matters  is  not  so  great,  nor  the  venturing 
upon  a  transgression  in  this  kind  so  evil,  but  that  it  may  be 
licensed  and  allowed  well  enough  to  procure  a  greater  good ; 
though  the  truth  be,  that  in  all  ages  there  has  nothing  more 
procured  the  wrath  of  God  to  come  down  upon  the  children 

Eph.  5.  6.  of  disobedience,  which  is  the  Apostle's  own  expression,  than 
these  two  sins  of  spiritual  and  carnal  luxury ;  excuse  them, 
they  that  do  so,  as  long  as  they  will,  the  Prophets  said  ever 
that  the  rest  of  the  world  suffers  for  them.  But  when  the 
master  of  the  politics  shall  come  in  with  his  rapine  and  spoil, 
his  treachery  and  his  murder,  even  of  them  that  are  never 
so  innocent,  of  kings  and  princes,  and  all,  if  they  stand  in 
his  way,  as  the  Florentine  secretary^,  and  somebody  else 
does,  from  whom  they  had  it  all  that  have  lately  put  all 
this  in  practice;  and  when  all  this,  as  evil  as  it  is,  begins 
to  be  made  an  allowable  and  a  needful  means  for  the  pro- 

''  Mauliiavelli. 


respecting  the  devil's  temptations.  247 

curing  of  that  end  which  they  call  the  general  good  of 
a  state,  for  my  part  I  am  apt  to  believe  that  since  this 
beguiler  here  hath  so  generally  corrupted  the  world,  the 
world  that  began  here  and  is  now  grown  so  old  with  sin, 
will  shortly  be  at  an  end. 

And  then  what  manner  of  persons  ought  we  to  be,  in  the 
actions  of  our  life  and  religion  both?  to  be  wary  of  any  evil 
that  may  assail  either,  and  to  practise  that  only  which  we 
shall  be  sure  will  be  pleasing  to  God  in  them  both ;  for  evil  2  Tim.  3. 

13 

men  and  seducers,  saith  St.  Paul,  shall  wax  worse  and  worse, 
deceiving  and  being  deceived. 

I  could  go  on  to  other  instances,  but  by  these  you  may 
take  the  measure  of  many  a  number  more,  wherein  this  de- 
ceiver makes  the  world  believe  that  they  shall  never  be 
called  to  an  account  for  their  sins.  It  is  either  he,  or,  as 
St.  James  says  of  them  that  go  to  hear  sermons  and  are  Jas,  l.  22. 
never  the  better  for  them ;  it  is  themselves  beguiling  their 
own  souls  with  it,  which  is  the  worst  deceit  of  all.  But 
whether  it  be  he,  or  they,  or  both,  as  indeed  both  it  is, 
here  is  a  judge  Who,  as  He  came  to  enquire  of  this  woman 
here  about  it  at  first,  so  will  He  do  ere  long  of  all  her  pos- 
terity after  her;  when  neither  one  excuse  nor  other  will 
serve  the  turn,  but  judgment  will  follow  upon  them  that 
follow  this  serpent  and  his  seducers,  a  doom  to  misery  and 
pain,  whereof  this  that  was  first  given  upon  all  the  three 
transgressors  here  in  the  next  verses,  was  but  an  earnest 
and  a  type  of  what  should  come  hereafter ; — but  upon  them 
that  have  gotten  their  heels  out  of  his  snares,  and  made 
their  peace  with  one  God  and  Christ,  blessed  for  ever,  Who 
came  into  the  world  to  deliver  us  from  these  snares,  and  to 
break  the  serpent's  head  in  pieces, — to  them  a  doom  of  ever- 
lasting joy  and  happiness,  whereof  this  paradise  here  before 
was  an  earnest,  and  that  in  His  eternal  kingdom  of  glory, 
whereunto  God  of  His  mercy  bring  us  all ;  to  Whom  be- 
longeth  all  holiness,  honour,  and  power,  now  and  for  ever- 
more.    Amen. 


SEEMON  XVIII. 


PARIS,   APRIL  16,   1651.    [new   STYLE.] 

IN  OCTAVA  EESUERECTIONIS. 

John  xx.  9. 
Nondum  enim  sciebani  Scripturas,  8fC. 

For  as  yet  they  knew  not  the  Scriptures,  that  He  must  rise 
from  the  dead. 

SEEM.      This  day  is  the  octave,  that  is,  the  return  and  the  re- 

XVIII.  ,  .  . 

■ newing  of  Easter  day  itself;  wherein  the  text  was,  as  this 

isj   of  Christ's  rising  again  the  third  day  according  to  the 

Scriptures ;  St.  Paul's  text  to  the  Corinthians  *. 

What  those  Scriptures  were  in  particular,  we  had  no  time 
then  to  set  forth,  but  reserved  them  till  now ;  and  now  we 
shall  go  on. 

It  is  said  here  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  John,  that  as  yet  they 
knew  not  those  Scriptures;  for  want  of  which  knowledge  it 
was  that  at  first  they  doubted  whether  Christ  was  risen 
or  no. 

But  afterwards.  Cum  aperuerit  illis  mentem,  ut  intelligerent 
Scripturas,  when  He  had  opened  their  wits,  that  they  might 
understand  the  Scriptures,  they  believed  them  better  than 
their  own  eyes,  and  doubted  nothing  of  it  at  all. 

It  behoves  us  to  know  what  those  Scriptures  be,  that  as 
yet  they  knew  not ;  whereunto  we  are  referred  both  by  them, 
and  by  Christ  Himself,  for  a  more  clear  and  evident  proof  of 

"  This  sermon  is  not  preserved ;  it  is  used  in  Morning  Service  instead  of  the 
probable  that  the  text  was  taken  from  Psalm,  '  0  come,  let  us  sing  unto  the 
some  of  the  versicles  appointed  to  be       Lord.' 


Division  of  the  subject-matter.  249 

His  resurrection  than  any  their  own  senses  afforded  them,  or 
than  ours  would  have  afforded  us,  if  we  had  lived  in  their 
days  and  seen  Christ  rising  out  of  His  grave. 

The  words  relate,  first,  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  the  Scriptures  relate  to  the  knowledge  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, which  is  so  needful  a  point  to  be  known  and  believed 
by  us  all,  that  without  this  we  shall  believe  nothing  else, 
and  without  the  Scriptures  we  shall  not  believe  this. 

To  reflect  therefore,  as  the  text  leads  us,  first,  upon  them 
here  that  knew  not  the  Scriptures,  and  then  on  those  Scrip- 
tures that  as  yet  they  knew  not,  relating  to  the  resurrec- 
tion ;  where  we  will  first  look  upon  the  certainty  of  it,  that 
80  it  was. 

Next  upon  the  necessity  of  it,  that  so  it  behoved  to  be, 
that  Christ  must  rise  from  the  dead. 

These  two  to  confirm  us,  first,  in  our  faith,  and  then  to 
establish  us  in  our  hope,  together  with  the  virtue  and  opera- 
tion that  they  ought  to  have,  both  of  them,  upon  our  lives, 
will  be  the  heads  and  parts  of  our  sermon  to  follow. 

Of  which  that,  &c., we  beseech,  &c., putting 

you  in  mind  to  pray,  both  now  and  always,  for  the  good 
estate,  &c.,  ....  more  especially  for  the  distressed  estate 
of  the  kingdom  and  Church  in,  &c.,  ....  and  therein  for 
our  sovereign  lord  and  master,  Charles,  by  the  grace  of 
God  king  of  England,  Scotland,  France  and  Ireland, 
defender  of  the  faith,  and  in  all  causes  over  all  persons, 
within  his  own  dominions  by  the  right  and  title,  supreme 
governor. 

For  our  gracious  lady  the  queen,  and  all  the  royal 
family;  for  the  king's  honourable  council,  and  all  the 
nobility;  for  the  reverend  prelates  of  the  Church  and  all 
the  clergy ;  for  the  universities  and  all  the  people. 

Rendering  likewise  praise  for  all  God's  mercies  and 
favours  over  us,  among  which  favours  specially  to  reckon 
this  our  profession  of  His  true  faith  and  religion  together, 
in  the  midst  of  all  these  adversities  and  temptations  that 
are  daily  upon  us  to  draw  us  from  it ;  and  for  all  those 
that  have  constantly  professed  the  same  heretofore,  having 
been  the  choice  vessels,  &c. 
Our  Father,  &c. 


250  8i.  Peter  not  infallible. 

SEEM.      '  For  as  yet  they  knew  not  the  Scriptures  that  Christ  must 
'—  rise  from  the  dead/ 


'As  yet  they  knew  not.'  And  because  St. Peter  was  one 
of  these  that  knew  not,  here  I  stay.  First,  they  that  stand 
so  much  for  St. Peter  above  all  the  Apostles  besides,  and  say 
that  he  knew  all  things  and  missed  in  nothing,  after  Christ 
had  once  given  him  the  keys,  every  time  they  read  this 
Gospel  they  see  themselves  confuted  here  by  St.  John,  who 
knew  the  defects  both  of  St.  Peter  and  himself,  and  of  all 
his  fellow  disciples  together,  better  than  these  men  ever 
knew  St.  Peter's  prerogative  above  the  rest. 

Of  the  rest  they  are  not  so  solicitous,  only  St.  Peter  must 
not  fail  nor  err  in  one  thing;  which  they  do  not  say  for  his 
sake  neither,  as  they  do  for  his  whom  they  hold  with  as 
little  probability  to  have  succeeded  him  in  his  chair ;  for,  not 
to  meddle  with  him,  without  all  doubt  St.  Peter  here  failed 
for  once,  if  he  doubted  of  Christ's  resurrection,  as  he  did, 
because  as  yet  he  knew  not  the  Scriptures  that  belonged  to  it. 

And  yet  not  only  tu  es  Petrus,  but  the  dabo  tibi  claves, 
and  the  rogavi  pro  te,  and  all,  had  been  all  three  said  and 
past  already. 

But  peradventure  his  chair  was  not  yet  set  up,  or  it  may 
be  he  had  not  yet  taken  a  full  possession  of  it ;  for  that  they 
say  was  given  him  in  the  next  chapter  after  this,  by  virtue 
Joh.21.16.  of  pasce  oves  meas,  the  words  that  they  find  there,  when  for 
reason  of  his  three  denials,  he  had  a  charge  thrice  laid  upon 
him  to  take  care  of  the  Church. 

How  went  it  therefore  after  this  was  past  ?  Truly  how  it 
went  with  him  at  another  place,  a  city  where  they  say 
neither  he  nor  any  that  ever  followed  him  there  could  yet 
possibly  fall  into  error  about  any  matter  of  faith;  how  it 
went  there,  for  aught  I  can  learn,  nobody  could  ever  yet 
certainly  inform  us.  But  how  it  went  with  him  at  a  city 
called  Csesarea,  and  that  a  full  year  too  after  pasce  oves  was 
past,  St.  Peter  himself  will  ingenuously  tell  us  in  the  tenth 
ver.  34.  chapter  of  the  Acts ;  that  till  then,  for  want  of  knowing 
the  Scriptures  too,  he  had  fallen  into  another  error,  and 
thought  before  that  time,  that  God  had  been  an  accepter 
of  persons,  which  error  there  in  open  audience  he  recanteth 
\  before  them  all. 


St.  Peter's  knowledge  was  progressive.  25 1 

It  vras  not  for  nothing  that  St. Paul  said,  all  our  know- 
ledge is  in  part  and  all  our  prophesying  in  part ;  that  is,  i  Cor.  13. 
that  it  comes  not  to  us  altogether  at  a  time,  for  it  did  not  so  " '    ' 
with  him;  nor  here  with  St.  John  and  St. Peter  himself,  who 
believed  the  sepulchre  to  be  empty  because  they  saw  it  to  ve-.  3. 
be  so,  the  words  before,  but  could  not  yet  believe  that  Christ 
was  risen,  because  as  yet  they  knew  not  the  Scriptures,  the 
words  here;  but  when  they  knew  them  once,  the  Scripture?, 
that  had  foretold  it  of  old,  must  of  necessity  be  fulfilled  at 
that  time,  then  they  were  of  another  mind. 

It  will  be  the  like  case  with  us  in  any  thing  besides, 
where  in  any  point  of  truth  we  stand  in  doubt,  there  to  have 
the  same  recourse  to  the  Scriptures  that  they  had,  and  we 
shall  perceive  things  never  the  worse,  clearer  a  great  deal 
than  we  did  before,  or  can  ever  do  without  them ;  it  was 
their  case  here. 

Only  this  are  we  to  look  to,  that  with  St.  Peter,  and 
St.  John,  and  the  rest  of  the  disciples  after,  when  the  Scrip- 
tures are  opened  to  us,  to  shew  us  any  truth,  we  would  like- 
wise open  our  eyes  to  perceive  that  truth ;  and  when  we  find 
men,  ourselves  or  others,  to  be  in  any  error  against  them, 
that  we  would  be  so  ingenuous  as  readily  to  acknowledge 
that  error.  All  is  laid  here  upon  the  truth  and  knowledge 
of  the  Scriptures ;  which  we  are  to  extend,  where  need  is, 
to  all  other  points  of  religion  whatsoever,  whereof  there  be 
many  no  less  doubted  of  in  the  world  now,  than  here  and 
elsewhere  the  resurrection  was  at  first.  But  to  this  parti- 
cular because  we  are  now  confined,  we  will  not  now  touch 
upon  any  other.  And  yet  the  Scriptures  will  be  able  to  clear 
them  all,  all  other  points  of  our  faith  and  religion,  no  less 
than  this. 

Which  being  the  main  and  the  chiefest  point  of  all,  the 
Apostles,  after  they  were  confirmed  in  it  themselves,  took 
more  pains  to  clear  and  to  set  it  forth  to  the  world  than 
they  did  any  the  rest;  as  knowing  well  that  the  whole  frame 
of  our  religion,  in  life  and  death,  and  all,  depended  upon  it ; 
for  without  this,  who  need  to  trouble  themselves  about  either 
of  these,  but  first  sit  down  to  eat  and  drink,  and  then  rise  Ex.  32.  6. 
up  to  play ;  and  when  they  can  play  and  live  no  longer,  to  \  cor.Yi. 
die,  and  there  an  end  with   them.     Yet  that  end  will   be  i'^- 


252  Our  Lord's  resurrection  foretold 

SEEM,  to  die  in  their  sins;  for  if  Christ  be  not  dead  and  risen  for 
'—  them,  to  put  a  new  life  into  thera  before  they  die,  needs 


must  they  perish  in  them  and  be  no  better  than  dead  men 
while  they  seem  to  be  alive.  All  is  thereafter  as  the  resur- 
rection is,  here  and  hereafter ;  as  we  shall  see  anon. 

For  this  purpose  we  are  referred  here  to  the  Scriptures; 
wherein  we  may  perceive  as  much  as  they,  that  refer  to 
them,  saw  with  their  own  eyes;  for  we  have  the  same  Scrip- 
tures that  they  had,  and  their  own  besides.  For  if  now  we 
should  be  asked  the  question,  what  Scriptures  those  be  ?  it 
would  behove  us  all  to  be  ready  for  an  answer ;  and  for  the 
more  readiness,  the  Apostles,  after  they  once  understood 
them,  have  pointed  them  out  to  us,  as  I  believe  Christ  Him- 
self, now  after  He  was  risen  from  the  dead,  did  to  them. 

And  it  was  well  they  did  so.  For  otherwise  we  might 
have  been  to  look  at  this  day,  as  the  Jews  yet  are,  what  to 
make  of  many  prophetical  passages  in  the  Old  Testament, 
"which  are  now  made  manifest  and  clear  to  us  in  the  New. 

When  we  took  our  former  text  here,  the  last  day,  out  of 
St. Paul,  we  reflected  upon  three  of  those  passages  already; 
one  out  of  Moses,  in  capite  libri,  in  the  beginning  of  his 
volume,  and  we  applied  it  to  the  resurrection  itself.  The 
two  other,  out  of  the  Psalms  and  the  Prophets,  in  corpore 
libri,  and  we  applied  them  to  the  time  of  the  resurrection, 
that  Christ  was  to  rise  again  the  third  day,  and  not  to  stay 
a  day  longer  than  His  time.  We  shall  not  go  over  those 
places  any  more;  but  the  books  themselves,  in  some  other 
places,  that  are  for  this  purpose  recorded  in  them,  we  are 
now  to  go  over  again. 

It  is  said  in  a  place  that  Christ  began  at  Moses,  and  so 
Lu.  24. 27.  must  we ;  for  Moses  is  the  fountain  and  the  ocean  from 
whence  all  the  rest  of  the  Prophets  drew  their  waters  of  life. 
To  begin  then  with  him. 

I.  Besides  these  words  that  I  mentioned  last,  to  have 
been  set  in  capite  libri,  for  antiquity  the  first,  and  for 
majesty  the  greatest  that  ever  were,  we  are  referred  by  these 
two  very  Apostles  here,  that  came  now  from  Christ's  grave, 
and  afterwards  preached  up  His  resurrection  in  the  third 
chapter  of  their  Acts,  to  that  book  of  Moses  again,  and  there 
ver.  15, 25.  to  that  promise  made  to  Abraham,  that  in  his  seed  all  the 


in  the  Old  Testament.  253 

nations  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed ;  to  this  promise,  for 
a  clear  proof  and  prophecy  of  Christ's  rising  to  immortality. 

A  prophecy  that  the  Jew,  or  any  worldly  man  besides  with 
all  the  temporal  blessings  that  they  look  for,  can  never  tell 
what  to  make  of;  but  the  Christian  can ;  to  whom  it  is  said, 
that  after  Christ  had  overcome  the  sharpness  of  death.  He 
opened  His  blessed  kingdom  to  all  believers.  That  did  He 
at  His  resurrection.  But  for  the  opening  of  which  blessed 
kingdom  it  had  gone  hard  with  Abraham,  and  with  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  besides;  nor  had  the  promise  then 
made  of  blessing  him  and  his  seed  for  ever,  been  any  true 
blessing  at  all.  • 

(2.)  For  secondly,  it  was  no  sooner  made  to  him,  but  all 
the  seed  he  had,  by  that  promise,  then  alive,  was  destined 
and  called  for  away  to  a  present  death ;  the  sacrifice  of  his 
son,  his  only  son  Isaac.  Therefore,  here  the  Apostle  dis- 
putes and  challenges  Jew,  and  Gentile,  and  all  the  world, 
to  answer  him.  In  Isaac  was  it  said  that  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  should  be  blessed ;  yet  in  Isaac  himself  were 
they  never  blessed,  no  more  than  they  were  in  Abraham,  Heb.  ii. 
or  in  all  his  posterity  besides,  till  Christ  came.  Who  was 
the  seed  of  Abraham  indeed ;  and  being  blessed  for  ever 
Himself,  extended  that  blessing  not  only  to  Abraham,  but 
to  all  the  true  sons  of  Abraham  for  ever,  and  so  made  good 
the  promise. 

This  did  He  at  His  resurrection,  which  was  the  end,  the 
fulfilling  of  that  promise.  For  Abraham  had  it  in  a  type, 
saith  St.  Paul,  when  he  received  his  son  from  death  in  a 
figure.  If  the  figure  went  before,  the  verity  of  that  figure  Heb.  ii. 
must  of  necessity  follow  after ;  for,  as  TertuUian  says,  ration- 
ally and  truly,  speaking  of  the  Sacrament  and  of  this  mys- 
tery together,  figura  est  semper  fiyura  veriiatis  ^ ;  there  is  no 
figure  or  shadow  without  a  true  substance  with  it,  but  that 
truth  never  came  out  of  the  shadow,  to  be  manifestly  true, 
till  Christ  Himself  came.  Who  was  the  truth,  and  the  life  of 

^    Figura    autem    non    fuisset,    nisi  ibus  fiant  necesse  est,  quia  nihil  potest 

veritatis  esset  corpus.  —  TertuU.  adv.  ad  siinilitudinein  de  suo  praestare,  nisi 

Marc,  lib.  iv.  cap.  40.     The  index  to  sit  ipsuni  quod  tali  siinilitudine  prae- 

tlie    edition    of    Rigaltius    (fol.  Par.  stet.      But   nothing    corresponding    to 

1664)  has  the  following  entry,  which  this   sentiment  is   found  on    the    page 

has  reference,  apparentlj',  to  a  similar  (p.  247.)  to  which  reference  is  made, 
passage :  Figurae  e.\  rebus  consistent- 


25  i  Isaac  a  type  of  our  Saviour. 

SEEM,  all  things.     And  this  in  His  rising  to  life  out  of  death  itself, 
'—  after  He  had  been  made  a  sacrifice  upon  the  cross,  as  Isaac 


should  have  been,  and  was  made  in  a  type,  upon  the  Mount ' 
When  we  meet  with  his  story,  peradventure  some  of  us 
run  through  it  too  fast.  Shall  we  stay  a  little  and  look 
upon  it,  to  see  how  even  the  parallel  lines  of  it  are  laid  to 
those  of  Christ  ? 

(1.)  First,  for  their  persons.  They  were  both  the  sons,  and 
the  only  sons,  and  the  only  beloved  sons  of  their  fathers ;  yet 
both  determined  to  be  put  to  death ;  alike  in  that. 

(2.)  Then  in  their  obedience  to  either.     They  were  both 
willing  to  be  offered  up  for  a  sacrifice,  and  to  die,  obedientes 
Phil.  2. 8.  facti  usque  ad  mortem ;  alike  too  in  that. 

(3.)  And  in  the  manner  of  it  alike.     They  were  both  of 
Gen.  22.  9.  them  bound  for  it. 

G   '  22  6       ^^'^  ^^^  wood  whereupon  they  were  to  be  sacrificed  was 
Job.  19.17.  laid  upon  both  their  shoulders'^. 

Gen.  22. 2.       (^O  They  were  either  of  them  led  away  to  the  mount, 
Lu.  23.  33.  and  to  the  same  mount  both ;  for  mount  Calvary  and  mount 
Moriah  were  but  one  and  the  same  place  ^. 

(6.)  Then  what  was  the  ram  that  came  thither  in  the 
thorns,  and  was  offered  up  to  save  Isaac's  life,  but  the  figure 
and  pledge  of  Him  That  came  forth  with  the  crown  of  thorns, 
and  offered  up  Himself  to  save  ours^? 

(7.)  And  lastly,  the  release  of  them  both,  which  was  the 
figure  of  the  resurrection  in  Isaac's  story,  and  is  there  seldom 
taken  notice  of,  fell  out  to  be  either  of  them  upon  the  third 
day.  Which  circumstance  of  time  set  forth  for  Isaac,  needed 
not  to  have  been  mentioned  there  at  all,  unless  it  had  referred 
here  to  Christ,  that  they  might  every  way  agree  s. 

<=  See  Willet's  Hexapla  in  Genesin,  Civit.  Dei,  lib.  xvi.  cap.  22,  0pp.,  vii. 

p.  234,  fol.  Lond.   1608,  and' Pearson  336.  and  in  Psalm,  xxx.;  0pp.,  toni.  iv. 

on  the  Creed,  vol.  ii.  p.  92.  edit.  1821.  119,  et  viii.  524.  S.Jerome  in  cap.  \5. 

^  Isaac,  cum  a  patre  hostia  duce-  Marci,   torn.  iv.  p.  919.  edit.  Bened. 

retur,   lignumque    ipse    sibi    portaret,  1706. 

Cbristi  exitum  jam  tunc  denotabat,  in  '  Haec  pars  Domiiiicae  passionis  prae- 

victimam    concessi    a    Patre,    lignum  figurata  fuit  in  typo  arietis  in  dumeto 

passionis  suae  bajulantis. — Tertull.  adv.  spinoso  pendentis,  quern  Abraham  loco 

Judseos,  cap.  10  ;  Opp,,  tom.iv.  p.  316.  filii   sui    Isaaci   in    holocaustum   Deo 

ed.  Gersd.  obtulit. — Gerh.  Harm.Evang.,cap.l94. 

«  Hieronymus  scripsit  ab  antiquis  et  tom.  iii.  p.  1909. 
senioribus  Judaeis  se  certissime  cogno-  8  Typi  illius  tridui  potissimum  tres 

visse  quod  ibi  immolatus  sit  Isaac  ubi  sunt.     Isaacus  in  tertium  usque  diem 

postea  Christus  crucifixus  est. — S.  Au-  cum  parente  abit  ad   montem    Moria 

gust.  Serm.  71.de  Temp.     See  also  de  jussu  Dei  sacrificandus,  ubi  in  oculis 


The  Psalms  predict  the  resurrection.  255 

And  80  much  for  what  was  written  of  Him  in  the  volume 
of  that  book ;  which,  as  St.  Austin  says  rightly,  is  nothing 
else  but  a  perpetual  prophecy  of  Christ'*.  This  and  all  the 
rest  which  pass  under  the  name  of  Moses. 

II.  The  next  book  we  are  sent  to  is  the  book  of  the 
Psalms.  St.  Peter  sends  us  to  two  of  them,  and  St.  Paul 
to  a  third ;  I  will  mention  no  more. 

And  of  St.  Peter's  two  we  have  made  one  clear  already.  Acts  2. 27, 
It  was  the  sixteenth  Psalm,  that  which  we  call  the  Psalm  of 
the  Resurrection',  where  the  patriarch  David,  that  saw  cor-  ver.  lo. 
ruption  himself  and  is  still  detained  under  it,  prophesied  of 
Christ  That  saw  none,  and  was  never  corrupted  in  His  grave 
at  all.  For  there  we  found  it  to  be  all  one,  not  to  see  cor- 
ruption, and  not  to  be  above  three  days  dead  ;  at  which  time 
naturally  we  see  every  dead  body  corrupt ;  but  so  did  not 
Christ's,  Whose  body  was  risen  and  alive  again  before  that 
time  of  corruption  came. 

The  other  of  St.  Peter's  psalms  is  of  the  stone  which  the  Ps.  118. 22. 
builders  cast  away,  and  which  God  took  up  and  made  the 
head  stone  of  the  corner ;  never  made  good  but  by  the  death 
and  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  For  at  the  one  they  hacked 
and  hewed  Him  like  a  stone,  they  threw  Him  aside  and  trod 
upon  Him  like  a  stone;  but  within  a  few  days  after,  at  the 
other,  He  was  taken  up  again  and  set  in  the  very  head  of  the 
building,  which  made  Him  the  head  and  the  only  head  of  Ilis 
Church  ever  since.  A  title  that  some  others  have  of  late 
times  adventured  to  take  upon  themselves,  but  the  Scrip- 
tures reserve  it  only  to  Him ;  and  they  that  are  not  for  the 
right  head  are  not  for  Christ.  In  effect,  they  would  not 
have  Him  yet  risen.  There  is  another  psalm  of  the  passion,  Ps.  22.  la 
where  they  parted  His  garments  among  them ;  but  the  end 
of  that  psalm  is,  that  He  will  call  them  to  an  account  for  all,  ver.  27,  28, 
and  in  His  time  shew  that  He  is  risen  indeed,  however  they 

patris  fuit  velut   inortuus,  sed    tertio  de  Christo,  in  isto  Psaimo  prophetiam 

die  vivificatur  cum  aries  ipsius  loco  iiii-  de  Illo  contineri  admirandani,  tanquam 

molatur.  —  Gerh.  Harm.  Evang.,  torn,  in  columna  incisain  et  perpetua  scrip- 

iii.  p.  2093.  tura  dignam,  potissimum  de  triumpho 

^  Quaere  quid  sit.  Figura  estChristi  mortis  ac  resurrectionis  Ejus. — Lorin. 

involutaSacramentis. — S.August.Opp.,  in  Psalm.,  torn.  i.  p.  195.      See  also 

tom.  iv.  col.  119.  Hammond  on  the  Psalms,  p.  77.  edit. 

Graeci  enarratores  Latinique,  maxi-  1659,  and  Pearson  on  the  Creed,  vol. 

me  veteres,  conseniiunt  inturpretando  ii.  p.  91.  edit.  1821. 


256        The  passage  from  the  second  Psalm  examined. 

SEEM,  use  Him  now,  as  if  He  lay  dead  still  in    His   sepulchre. 

^  These  were  St.  Peter's  psalms. 

Besides  these,  there  was  a  proof  made  by  St.  Paul  of  the 

ver.  7.        resurrection  of  Christ  out  of  the  second  Psalm,  when  he 

Actsi3.33.  preached  his  first  sermon  at  Antioch.  He  tells  them  there, 
that  God  had  fulfilled  His  promise,  in  that  He  had  raised 
up  His  Son  from  the  dead;  as  it  is  written  in  the  second 
Psalm,  *  Thou  art  My  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  Thee/ 

What  makes  that  to  the  resurrection,  which  a  man  would 
think  were  a  text  rather  belonging  to  the  nativity  at  Christ- 
mas, than  to  the  resurrection  at  Easter? 

But  it  was  an  Easter-day  psalm  with  St.  Paul,  and  so  was 
it  here  with  us;  it  was  appointed  for  the  day'^. 

And  indeed  there  is  no  applying  of  that  Psalm  to  any 
but  to  Christ,  nor  to  Christ  at  any  other  time  so  properly 
as  this. 

For  who  was  He  That  had  the  heathen  there  given  Him  for 
His  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  His 
possession,  but  Christ?  It  could  not  be  king  David  himself, 
that,  for  he  never  had  any  such  possession  given  him ;  nor 
he,  nor  any  other.  But  He,  that  being,  as  He  was,  the  Son 
of  God,  became  afterwards  to  be  the  Son  and  the  Lord  of 

Mat.28.18.  king  David  himself;  of  Him,  and  of  all  the  kings  and  powers 
of  the  earth,  at  this  very  time  when  He  said  all  power  in 
heaven  and  earth  was  given  Him,  and  that  was  immediately 
after  His  resurrection,  when  He  sent  out  His  Apostles  to 
take  possession  of  it  in  the  world.  At  this  time  was  He 
made  the  King's  Son,  and  set  up  over  His  own  inheritance. 
The  sons  of  men  have  since  that  time,  as  they  make  account 
at  least,  got  a  good  part  of  it  to  themselves;  but  their  in- 
heritance is  one  thing,  and  His  is  another. 

Ps.  2.  7.  So  are  their  generations  too,  that  we  may  not  be  troubled 

here  at  that  expression,  *  This  day  have  I  begotten  thee.' 
For  there  are  two  begettings,  and  two  several  nativities ;  one 
to  this  life  here  below,  in  which  we  must  die;  another  to 
the  life  above,  in  which  we  shall  never  die;  and  to  this  latter 
life  was  Christ  now  begotten,  after  His  death  to  the  first. 
The  reason  that  the  ancient  Church  called  their  martyrs 

^  This  Psalm  is  appointed  for  Morn-  the  fitness  of  its  adaptation,  see  Lorin. 
ing  Service  upon  Easter  day.      Upon      in  Psalm.,  toni.i.  p.  24. 


Prophecies  concerning  our  Saviour.  257 

days^  natalitia  martyrum,  that  is,  the  days  of  their  nativities; 
wbereiu  though  they  lost  one  life,  yet  they  were  begotten 
and  born  to  another  far  better  than  the  former.  And  this 
for  the  book  of  Psalms. 

3.  The  books  of  the  Prophets  that  follow  are  full  to  this 
purpose.  I  will  but  name  three  of  them,  and  stay  at  the 
fourth. 

Daniel;    he   foretells   the    precise   time  both  of  Christ's  Dan. 9. 24, 

1  25  26 

death,  and  of  His  return  from  death;    of  the  Messias  by     ' 
name,  and  that  this  was  His  time. 

Zachary  says  that  they  should  see  Ilim  alive,  Whom  they  Zach.  12. 
had  pierced  to  death;  applied  by  St.  John  here  to  the  per- 37' 
son  of  Christ. 

Hosea  is  clear,  '  After  two  days  He  will  return,  and  the  Hob.  6. 2. 
third  day  rise  up  and  ransom  us;'  which  St. Paul  applies  to 
Christ's  rising  from  the  dead. 

But  I  stay  upon  the  prophet  Isaiah,  the  clearest  of  them 
all.     There  was  a  man  of  Ethiopia  that  was  reading  of  him  Acta  8. 27. 
in   his  chariot,  and  the  place  he  read  was  a  prophecy  of 
Christ's  passion,  which  endeth  there  in  His  resurrection; 
that  place  alone  converted  him  and  made  him  a  Christian. 
He  was  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  for  the  sins  isa.  53.  7, 
of  My  people  was  He  slain :  and  there  it  ends  not,  but  after- 
wards. He  was  taken  out  of  His  prison  and  came  forth  from 
His  sepulchre  like  a  conqueror  from  the  field :  which  was  so 
clear  a  prophecy  of  Christ,  that  six  hundred  years "  before 
He  came,  the  prophet  speaks  of  Him  as  if  he  had  then  seen 
Him  rising  before  his  eyes.     For  first,  he  asks  the  question,  isa.  63. 1. 
Who  is  this  that  cometh,  so  glorious  in  His  gait,  so  beautiful 
in  His  garments?    And  then  he  answers  it,  Behold,  herever. 8. 
comes  your  Saviour,  with  the  keys  of  Edom  and  Bozra,  that 
is,  of  death  and  hell  both  ^,  at  His  girdle.     A  text  in  Isaiah, 
which  if  Isaiah  were  not  named,  might  be  rather  taken  for 
a  story  penned  by  one  of  the  evangelists  than  for  a  predic- 
tion made  by  one  of  the  prophets ;  so  like  a  story  it  looks  of 
a  thing  then  past,  or  present,  and  not  like  a  prophecy  of  any 


•  See  Bingham  xx.  7.  §  2;   and  J.  B.C.  712. 
Hildebrand    de    Natalitiis    Martyrum,  °  See    Alvarez    in   Isaiam,  torn.  ii. 

4to.  Helmst  1661.  col.  1225,  1226,  fol.  Lugd.  1623. 

■"  According  to  Ussher's  chronology, 

COSIN.  8 


258  Christ  must  rise  from  the  dead. 

SEEM,  thing  then  to  come  so  many  ages  after.     But  this  manner  of 
penning  these  prophecies  made  them  the  surer;  and  there 


is  nothing  so  great  a  stay  to  our  faith  and  religion  that  we 
have  for  Christ,  than  that  those  things  which  we  profess  to 
believe  of  Him  we  find  to  be  so  plainly  foretold  so  many 
years  before  they  came  to  pass. 

To  which  therefore  St.  John  here  refers  both  St.  Peter,  and 
himself,  and  all  of  us  together ;  that  both  they  might  believe 
thq  Scriptures  better  than  their  own  eyes,  as  being  the 
clearer  evidence  and  the  surer  proof  of  the  two ;  and  that 
we,  who  were  to  come  after  them,  having  the  same  Scrip- 
tures that  they  had,  might  be  as  sure  as  they,  and  believe 
as  they  did ;  ever  remembering  that,  as  the  Angel  told  him, 

Kev.19.10.  the  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  sure  spirit  of  prophecy.  And 
so  I  have  done  with  these  Scriptures,  the  ground  of  our  faith 
and  the  certainty  of  this  truth,  that  Christ  is  risen. 

II.  The  necessity  of  it  is  yet  behind,  which  I  will  despatch 
in  a  word,  that  we  may  apply  both  to  ourselves. 

It  is  said  here,  that  Christ  must  rise  from  the  dead.     He 

Mat.  3. 15.  had  said  so  before  Himself,  Quia  sic  oportuit  impleri  omnem 
^'  '  '  justitiam,  that  it  behoved  Him  both  to  die  and  to  rise  again, 
or  otherwise  God's  justice  must  never  have  been  satisfied. 
For  neither  we,  nor  all  the  world  besides,  were  able  to  do 
that;  so  that  done  it  must  be,  or  we  must  have  been  all 
undone,  one  of  these  two. 

That  'must'  troubles  the  Socinian, — which  is  a  new  sect 
that  now  troubles  the  world  abroad,  and  says  that  there 
was  no  such  necessity  to  satisfy  God's  justice  at  all,  either 
by  Christ's  death  or  by  Christ's  rising  °.    They  deny  Christ's 

'Probably:  satisfaction,  and  say  there  was  no  need  of  it.     Bylike^  they 

son,  V.  Be-  either  know  how  to  satisfy  for  themselves,  (as  some  others 
®'  are  taught  to  do,  that  may  not  wholly  rely  upon  Christ;  but 

they  are  of  another  division,)  or  else  they  know  not  the 
Scriptures,  which  yet  they  pretend  to  do  above  all  people 
living.  It  should  seem  that  among  the  rest  they  leaped 
over  this,  as  their  manner  is  to  fly  at  some  one,  and  leave 

•  From  a  careful  examination  of  the  nee  debuit  nee  potuit  satisfacere,  nee 

Socinian  writers,  Scherzer  collects  and  peccata    nostra    expiavit,    nee    Deum 

proves  that  they  maintained  this  thesis,  nobis  reconciliavit.'     See  Colleg.  Anti- 

'Christus   morte  sua  justitiae  divinae  Socin.,  p.  428.  edit.  Lips.  1672. 


Justice  is  one  of  God's  essential  attributes.  259 

ten  behind  them.     But  all  they  have  to  say  is,  that  God 

will  do  it  some  other  way ;  ex  plenitudine  potestatis,  or  ex 

plenitudine  misericordice ;   either  by  His  absolute  power,  or 

by  His  absolute  goodness,  because  His  power  and  mercy  are  Ps.  146.  9. 

over  all  His  works. 

As  if  there  had  been  no  way  at  all  for  mercy  and  justice 
to  meet  and  so  to  stand  together ;  as  if  there  were  ever  any 
greater  power  and  mercy  shewed,  than  in  this  way  of  satis- 
fying God's  justice  by  the  death  and  resurrection  of  His 
Son !  For  as  we  must  ever  acknowledge  His  mercy  in  all 
things,  so  must  we  never  deny  Him  His  justice  in  any  thing, 
which  is  every  way  as  essential  to  Him  as  His  mercy  is; 
otherwise  they  rob  God  of  one  of  His  attributes.  Who  can 
neither  quit  His  justice  nor  waive  His  truth,  and  when 
justice  comes  once  to  claim  her  own  of  them,  if  they  find  it 
not  then  in  manu  Mediatoris,  if  they  chance  to  meet  it  then  Gal.  8. 19. 
out  of  Christ's  hands,  they  had  better  meet  a  lion  in  their 
way,  to  devour  and  tear  them  in  pieces. 

The  truth  is,  there  is  no  other  way  either  to  appease  that 
justice  of  God,  or  to  quiet  any  man's  conscience,  than  this 
way  alone,  this  way  of  necessity,  that  the  Scriptures  have 
here  laid  upon  Christ.     And  there  we  rest. 

There  is  another  question  here  moved  by  these  men, 
whether  Christ  raised  Himself  or  noP,  in  that  it  is  said  in 
another  place,  that  God  raised  Him.  But  let  not  that  Rom.  6. 4. 
trouble  us,  for  He  was  God  Himself,  and  there  are  not  two 
Gods;  there  was  but  the  same  Deity,  and  the  same  power 
in  either  Person.  And  here  we  rest  again  in  the  Scriptures 
and  in  Him,  that  we  may  now  come  to  ourselves,  and  ask 
what  all  these  Scriptures  and  this  resurrection  of  Christ 
will  teach  us. 

Multum  per  omnem  modum,  says  the  Apostle,  much  and  Kom.  3. 2. 
many  ways  they  will  do  it. 

(1.)  First  to  confirm  and  strengthen  our  faith,  that  herein 
we  were  not  born  to  inherit  and  believe  a  lie,  as  some  other 
people  of  the  world  are  in  following  their  own  fond  and 

P  The  Racovian  Catechism  asserts,  blishing  the  same  assertion  is  collected. 

Falluntur  vehementer  qui  aiunt  Chris-  See  S.August.  0pp.,  lom.  v.  col.  863, 

turn  seipsum  a  mortuis  excitasse;  see  and  torn.  iv.  col.  2U4,  398  et  918,  and 

Scherzer,  Colleg.  Anti-Socin.,  p.  549,  Pearson   on  the  Creed,  vol.  ii.  p.  97. 

where  a  host  of  other  authorities  esta-  edit.  1821. 

82 


260  The  doctrine  of  Christ's  resurrection 

SEEM,  groundless  courses  of  religion,  but  that  we  rest  upon  cer- 
•^^"'  tain  and  undoubted  truths,  built  upon  the  foundation  of 
the  prophets  and  Apostles,  grounded  upon  the  evidence  of 
Scripture,  upon  reason,  upon  justice,  and  upon  many  wit- 
nesses here  besides.  Which  rule  if  it  might  be  followed 
in  all  other  matters  of  religion,  as  indeed  it  ought  to  be, 
and  was  here  in  this,  we  should  have  more  unity  and  less 
contention  in  the  world  about  them  than  there  is. 

(2.)   Secondly,  that  He   in  Whom  we   believe,  and  the 

Bom.  1.  4.  Scriptures  in  which  we  trust,  have  hereby  declared  Him  to 
be  the  Son  of  the  everliving  God,  even  by  the  resurrection 
from  the  dead ;  the  Apostle's  own  words.  For  in  His  dying 
He  was  declared  to  be  the  son  of  man,  without  which  He 
might  never  have  died ;  but  in  His  rising  again  He  was  set 
forth  to  be  what  He  was,  the  eternal  Son  of  the  Most  High 
God,  without  which  He  could  never  have  made  perfect  our 
redemption. 

For  if  our  faith  had  gone  no  further  than  that  He  died 
only,  and  no  more,  the  Jews  and  the  very  pagans  themselves 
will  confess  as  much  of  Him  as  that,  etiam  pagani  credunt 
mortuum  esse  Christum,  they  will  believe  Him  to  be  dead,  as 
they  believe  it  of  their  own  special  men,  of  their  own  whom 
they  set  up  to  be  worshipped ;  sed  resurrewisse  vivum,  to  be- 
lieve that  He  is  alive  and  risen  again  to  glory,  hac  est  fides 
Christianorum  propria,  this  is  the  only  true  faith  and  cha- 
racter of  a  true  Christian,  as  St.  Austin  i  rightly  tells  them  ; 
it  can  be  said  by  none  but  Christ,  and  challenges  all  the 
world  to  shew  it  of  another.  Since  His  time  there  are  some 
Christians  arisen  that  have  made  bold  to  believe  it  of  another, 
we  know  who,  but  it  is  a  peculiar  faith  that,  by  themselves, 
and  a  groundless,  whereby  they  have  degenerated  not  a  little 
from  the  proper  and  universal  Catholic  faith  of  a  Christian, 
which  never  yet  believed  it  of  any  but  of  Christ,  and  holds 
it  to  be  no  good  sign  of  a  true  Christian  indeed  to  let  any 
creature  whatsoever,  either  among  the  sons  or  the  daugh- 
ters of  Abraham,  entercommon  with  Him  in  His  glory.  This 
for  our  faith  in  Him  to  confirm  that. 

s  Mortuum  quippe  Christum  et  pa-      S.  August,   contra  Faustum,  lib.  xvi. 
gani credunt;  resurrexisseautem Chris-      cap.  29.  0pp.,  torn.  viii.  col.  215. 
turn  propria  fides  est  Christianorum. — 


strengthens  our  faith  and  hope,  261 

Then  for  our  hope  in  Him,  to  establish  that.  The  na- 
ture of  hope  is  to  expel  fear ;  and  of  this  hope  to  expel  the 
fear  of  death  or  the  grave.  For  thus  we  plead ;  if  Christ 
be  risen,  we  shall  rise ;  if  He  be  risen  in  our  nature,  as  sure 
He  is,  then  may  our  nature  rise  sure  enough ;  and  if  our  na- 
ture may  rise,  as  it  did  in  Him,  then  is  there  no  fear  but  our 
persons  may  rise  also,  as  His  did. 

For  lo !  here  comes  your  Saviour,  as  Isaiah  said  of  Him,  Is.  63.  i. 
when  he  saw  Him  coming  from  the  regions  of  death.  And 
being  already  come  from  thence  Himself,  He  will  never  leave 
those  behind  Him  there  to  be  lost,  for  whom  and  for  whose 
sakes  alone,  He  went  thither;  but  if  He  suffers  us  to  be 
carried  to  our  graves,  He  will  see  us  safely  brought  out 
from  them  again,  and  never  part  with  us  when  all  the 
world  besides  leaves  us.  Which  is  the  only  chief  comfort 
we  shall  have  against  the  fear  of  death,  when  we  shall  come, 
as  once  we  must  all  do,  to  die  ourselves. 

Then  we  plead  again,  if  Christ  be  the  head  of  His  Church, 
as  there  is  no  other,  then  is  St.  Gregory's  reason  a  good 
one,  cum  caput  vidimus  super  aquas,  when  the  head  be  kept 
above  the  waters,  the  body  that  belonged  to  it,  though  in  the 
meanwhile  men  see  it  not,  is  safe  enough.     And  St.  Paul's  i  Cor.  15. 

.  20 

is  better ;  Christ  is  but  the  first-fruits  of  them  that  sleep, 
two  reasons  in  one ;  if  they  do  but  sleep  they  shall  do  well 
enough,  they  may  awake  again  from  their  sleep;  and  if  He 
be  but  the  first-fruits,  the  rest  are  a  part  of  those  fruits,  in 
their  own  due  season  to  follow. 

It  is  but  symbolical  divinity  this ;  but  it  illustrates  well,  l  Cor.  15. 
The  rational  is  that,  as  by  Adam,  whose  sons  we  are,  we  all 
die,  because  he  is  dead,  so  by  Christ,  Whose  sons  we  are 
too,  we  shall  be  restored  to  life,  because  He  is  risen  from 
the  dead.  For  we  are  parties  now,  no  less  to  the  one  than 
we  are  to  the  other.  And  herein  is  our  hope  laid  up  for  us 
against  the  time  to  come. 

Indeed  our  other  hopes  here  below  do  many  times  deceive 
us,  but  it  is  not  ^  long  of  hope  that,  it  is  long  of  ourselves, '  is  not 
who  lay  our  hope  upon  a  wrong  object,  and  there  anchor  in  quence  of. 
a  storm  that  pulls  it  up  and  carries  it  away,  in  the  uncertain,  ^®^-  ^'  ^^' 
transitory,  and  perishing  things  of  this  life.     Lay  it  where  it 
should  be  laid,  in  those  things  that  belong  to  a  better  life, 
and  it  will  never  fail  us. 


262  and  ought  to  influence  our  conversation. 

SEEM.      There  is  no  better  advice  in  this  case  than  that  which 
St.  Austin   gives ;    si  vis   esse   Christianus,  if  you   will   be 


counted  a  good  Christian,  live  so  as  you  may  live  in  hope 
of  having  such  a  resurrection  as  Christ  had ;  et  propter  hoc 
esto  quod  es,  that  is,  and  for  this  hope's  sake,  be  and  carry 
yourself  like  a  Christian,  like  one  that  bears  His  name  and 
waits  for  His  coming.  Which  is  a  good  lesson  now  to  make 
an  end  withal ;  and  so  I  have  done  with  this  text. 

Whereof  the  Sacrament,  that  we  are  now  going  to,  is 
a  lively  symbol ;  for  here  we  shall  find  Christ's  death  and 
resurrection  presented  to  us  again.  To  enjoy  the  true  fruit 
and  benefit  whereof,  we  are  thither  to  bring  our  own  death 
and  resurrection  with  us,  a  death  to  our  deadly  sins,  we 
know  every  one  what  our  own  be,  and  a  resurrection  to 
our  new  life,  we  are  none  of  us  ignorant  what  that  should 
Eev.  20.  5,  be.  St.  John  calls  it  the  first  resurrection,  which  will  open 
us  a  door  of  hope  for  the  second,  that  that  may  be  for  the 
better  and  not  for  the  worse ;  for  be  it  will  howsoever ;  but 
when  it  is,  God  send  it  for  the  best.  To  Whom  be  all 
honour  and  glory,  now  and  for  evermore.     Amen. 


SERMON  XIX. 


FABIS,   MAY   21,  1651.   [new  STYLE.] 

DOMINICA   POST   ASCENSIONEM. 

Acts  i.  9,  10,  11. 

Et  h<BC  locutus,  Hdentihus  iisdem,  in  altum  sublatus  est,  8fC. 
Et  ecce  !  duo  viH  astiterunt  Hits  in  vestibus  albis. 

And  when  He  had  spoken  these  things,  while  they  beheld,  He 
was  taken  up ;  and  a  cloud  received  Him  out  of  their  sight. 

And  while  they  looked  stedfastly  toward  heaven  as  He  went 
up,  behold  two  men  stood  by  them  in  white  apparel. 

Which  also  said.  Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  looking  up 
into  heaven?  This  same  Jesus,  Who  is  taken  up  from  you 
into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen 
Him  go  into  heaven. 

This  is  the  first  Sunday,  and  this  was  the  first  sermon 
after  Christ's  ascension ;  which  being  so  great  a  feast  in  the 
Christians'  calendar,  and  so  high,  so  necessary  an  article  in 
their  creed,  we  were  not  willing  to  pass  it  by,  but  have  taken 
this  day,  the  nearest  to  it  that  is,  and  this  text,  the  clearest 
for  it  that  is,  to  set  it  forth. 

It  consists  of  three  verses ;  and  in  these  three  verses  there 
be  three  parties,  that  will  divide  the  text  into  three  parts. 

Christ  is  the  first ;  and  the  two  other  are,  secondly.  His 
Apostles,  and  thirdly.  His  Angels ;  both  whom  He  took  here 
to  be  His  witnesses  that  He  was  taken  up  into  heaven. 

We  will  see  what  was  said,  and  what  was  done  about  it  by 
them  all. 


264  The  division  of  the  subject. 

SEEM.       1.  Here  was  somewhat,  first,  that  Christ  had  said,  et  cum 
'■ —  hcec  locutus,  the  last  words  He  spake  here  upon  the  earth  be- 
fore He  ascended  into  heaven ;  and  then  here  is  the  ascen- 
sion itself;  the  verity  of  it,  that  so  it  was ;  and  the  majesty 
of  it,  that  never  was  the  like.     These  three  for  Him. 

2.  Next,  here  is,  videntibiis  Apostolis,  that  they  stood  by 
and  looked  on  till  they  could  look  no  longer,  I  should  say 
till  they  could  see  no  longer ;  for  when  they  saw  Him  not, 
when  a  cloud  had  received  Him,  and  hid  Him  out  of  their 
sight,  yet  they  looked  after  Him  still. 

3.  Then  follows  the  Angels'  part;  their  appearing,  and 
their  speech.  Their  appearing,  in  the  second  verse,  'Be- 
hold two  men  stood  by  them  in  white  apparel.'  Their 
speech,  or  their  sermon,  in  the  last,  *  Ye  men  of  Galilee, 
why  stand  ye  looking  up  into  heaven,'  &c. 

Of  which  sermon  there  be  three  heads.  First,  viri  Galilcei, 
that  they  call  the  Apostles  by  that  name  and  no  other,  'men 
of  Galilee.'  Second,  quid  statis  aspicientes  ?  that  they  recall 
them  for  the  present  from  looking  after  Christ  with  their 
corporal  eyes  any  longer;  'Why  stand  ye  looking  up  into 
heaven?'  and  thirdly.  Hie,  Qui  assumpius  est,  sic  veniet ; 
that  they  instruct  them  what  to  look  for  hereafter;  gone 
though  He  be,  yet  the  time  will  come  that  the  world  shall 
hear  of  Him  again. 

And  of  these  that  we  may,  &c. 

Pater  Noster,  8fc. 

I.  Et  cum  hcec  locutus.  '  When  He  had  spoken  these 
things.'  And  'these  things'  refer  to  the  last  words  that 
Christ  spake  to  them  upon  the  earth,  the  more  to  be  taken 
notice  of  for  that.  He  tells  His  Apostles  here,  in  the  verse 
before,  that  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  should  come  upon 
them,  as  it  did  at  Pentecost,  the  next  feast  to  come.  And 
that  they  should  be  His  witnesses  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in 
Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth.  And 
so  they  were,  all  in  that  order  that  He  here  had  set  it. 
There  was  not  a  word  of  these  His  last  words  lost. 
Acts  8.  5.  For  first,  they  went  to  Jerusalem ;  next,  as  we  see  in  this 
book,  to  Samaria,  then  to  other  parts  of  the  world.    But  first. 


Jerusalem  the  mother  Church.  265 

they  went  to  Jerusalem,  and  bare  witness  of  Him  there. 
There  they  settled  the  mother  Church ;  omnium  Ecclesiarum 
matrem,  as  one  of  the  first  general  councils  called  it  %  and  as 
Ciirist  here  had  specially  commanded  it  more  than  once. 
I  wonder  where  some  other  men  since,  fifteen  hundred  years 
after  this,  got  any  power  to  reverse  that  command,  and  to 
damn  ^  all  the  world,  for  so  they  do,  who  will  not  now  make 
it  a  new  article  of  their  faith  that  they  are  the  mother  Church, 
and  the  mistress  of  all  other  Churches  upon  the  earth  ;  and 
this,  whether  Christ  or  His  Apostles  will,  or  no ;  for  they 
began  at  Jerusalem,  made  that  the  mother  Church. 

And  the  faith  that  they  liere  preached  they  carried  next  to 
Samaria,  and  from  thence  to  the  ends  of  the  world ;  from  Acts  8.  5. 
whence  we  have  it  now,  the  same  faith  and  religion  that  i8° 
Christ,  by  His  last  words,  here  sent  them  to  preach ;  we  are 
bound  to  no  other.     And  that  was  as  St.  Luke  sets  it  down  Acts  i.  4, 
here  before,  and  St.  Matthew  before  him,  the  last  words  that   '    °" 
Christ  spake  there  too,  teaching  all  people  to  observe  and  to  Mat.  28. 
do  whatsoever  He  had  commanded  them.     They  that  would     ' 
teach  us  any  other  matter  of  religion  than  the  Apostles  did, 
must  first  shew  us  a  better  evidence  for  it  than  the  Apostles 
here  had. 

All  the  evidence  they  bring  is  from  the  third  verse  here  Acts  i.  3. 
above ;  where  because  it  is  said  that  Christ  after  His  resur- 
rection had  been  forty  days  together  with  His  disciples, 
speaking  to  them  of  the  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom 
of  God, — which  they  say  were  never  after  written  in  the 
New  Testament, — they  must  needs  have  them  to  be  the  very 
same  things  that  they  themselves  have  written  or  taught 
by  tradition,  which  we  say  they  never  yet  made  good,  nor 
never  will''. 


'  Porro  Ecclesiae  Hierosolytnitanae,  §  8.  edit.  Lond.  1617,  and  Walch,  Hist, 

quae  est  aliarum  omnium  mater,  reve-  Eccl.  N.   T.  p.  355.  edit.  Jenae,  1744, 

rendissimum  et  sanctissimum  Cyrillum  where  additional  proofs  are  cited, 

episcopum  vobis  ostendimus,  turn  ab  •>  One  of  the  additional   Tridentine 

episcopis    provinciae,    uti    canon   vult,  articles   added   by   pope    Pius    to  the 

jampridem  creatum  esse,  turn  plurima  Creed,  makes  adherence  to  the  see  of 

prcelia  adversus  Arianos  variis  in  locis  Rome  an  article  '  de  fide.' 

confecisse. — Epistola  episcoporum  con-  <=  See   Bellarm.  de  Verbo    Dei  non 

cilii    Constantinop.   ii.   ad    Damasum  scripto,  lib.  iv.  cap.  5.  §  Co7JS<a<  igi^ur; 

papam,  in  Binii  Cone,   tom.  i.  p.  687.  Tanner   Theolog.    Scholast.,    torn.   iii. 

edit.  Par.  1636.     See  also  Ant.  de  Do-  disp.  1.  q.  5.  dub.  3.  12.  97. 
minis  de  Repub.  Eccl.,  lib.  iv.  cap.  3. 


ver.  8.  14. 


266  Acts  i.  3.  explained. 

SE^RM.  For,  first,  Christ  Himself  is  against  it,  Who  had  told  them 
before  expressly,  in  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  St.  John,  that 
all  the  things  He  had  heard  of  God,  His  Father,  He  had 
made  known  to  them  already;  so  that  such  things  as  be  said 
here  to  pertain  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  they  did  but  pertain 
to  those  things  whereof  He  had  spoken  before ;  they  were 
no  new  and  different  things  from  the  former ;  for  then  the 
former  had  not  been  all. 

iJoh.  1.3.  And  the  Apostles  are  against  it.  'What  we  have  heard 
and  seen,  that  do  we  declare  and  write  unto  you,'  speak  for 
matter  of  faith  and  religion,  necessary  to  be  imposed  upon  all 
men.  And  what  they  declared  and  wrote  not  to  others, 
a  sure  rule  it  is,  that  they  neither  saw  it,  nor  heard  it  from 
Christ;  neither  they  from  Christ,  nor  others  from  them, 
who,  as  St.  Paul  speaks  in  this  book,  had  not  failed  in  any 

Acts  20.  thing  to  set  forth  the  whole  counsel  of  God  concerning  those 
things  that  pertained  to  His  kingdom. 

And  therefore  St.  Austin  had  great  reason  to  declare  him- 
self, as  he  does,  against  those  men  that  took  their  advantage 
and  made  as  ill  use  of  these  words  in  his  time,  as  some  men 
do  now  in  ours,  calling  all  others  heretics  who  will  not  make 
the  same  use  of  them  that  they  do  themselves.     And  these 

97.  in  edit,  men  he  altogether  condemns  in  his  ninety-sixth  Tract  *^  upon 
St.  John.  It  is  remarkable,  and  concerns  a  matter  of  fact. 
Omnium  vero  insipientissimi  haretici,  of  all  other  he  calls 
them  the  worst,  qui  se  Christianos  vocari  volunt,  that  call 
themselves  Christians,  et  tamen  figmenta  sua  hac  occasione 
Evangelicae  sententice  colorare  conantur,  and  yet  take  their 
occasion  from  these  words  to  vent  and  colour  over  their  own 
fictions.  Quid  enim  aliud  sunt  nisi  figmenta,  cum  Scriptura 
Christi  ea  tacnerit  ?  for  what  are  they  else  but  the  fancies  of 
men,  when  we  read  them  not  in  the  Scriptures  of  Christ  ? 
Aut  quis  nostrum  dicat  hac  vel  ilia  sunt,  aut  si  dicere  audeat, 
unde  probet  ?  Who  can  say  that  Christ  ever  spake  those 
things  which  these  men  speak,  or  if  they  be  so  bold  as  to 
say  it  themselves,  how  will  they  prove  it  ?  and  concludes 

■^  Omnesautem  insipientissimi  haere-  conantur,    ubi    Dominus    ait,    Adhuc 

tici,  qui  se  Christianos  vocari  volunt,  multa  habeo  vohis  dicere,  sed  non  po- 

audacias   figmentorum    suorum,    quas  testis    portare     modo,  ....   S.  August, 

maxime  exponet  sensus  humanus,  oc-  0pp.,  torn.  iii.  p.  2.  p.  537. 
casione  Evangelicae  sententise  colorare 


I%e  ascension  foretold  by  the  prophets.  267 

them  to  be  no  other  than  rash  and  vain  persons,  qui  sine 
testimonio  divino,  quando  dixerint  qtus  ipsi  voluerinty  dicunt  ea 
esse  qua  Christus  dicere  volebat ;  who  first  say  what  they  will 
themselves,  and  then  without  any  testimony  of  divine  Scrip- 
ture to  shew  for  it,  say  that  they  had  it  from  Christ,  or  that 
He  ever  said  any  such  things  before  them. 

This  is  St.  Austin's  discourse  against  them  that  took  ad- 
vantage of  these  words  in  St.  Luke.  It  is  but  a  matter  of 
fact  that  I  cite  them  for,  to  let  you  see  from  whence  some 
other  men  of  late,  that  take  advantage  of  the  same  words 
against  us  too,  had  their  first  pattern;  for  from  Christ's 
words  here  they  have  it  not ;  neither  His  first  words,  nor 
His  last. 

And  so  much  for  hac  locutus. 

II.  Et  cum  hac  locutus,  sublatus  est  in  altum.  After  the 
last  words  that  He  spake  before  He  ascended,  follows  the 
ascension  itself. 

*And  when  He  had  spoken  these  things,  while  they  be- 
held, He  was  taken  up,  and  a  cloud  received  Him  out  of 
their  sight.' 

For  the  truth  whereof,  as  we  have  many  prophecies  in  the 
Old  Testament,  prophecies  and  types*  both, — which  the 
Church  set  forth  in  her  ^  service  upon  Ascension  day,  three 
days  since  we  had  them,  I  will  not  trouble  you  with  them 
now, — so  have  we  the  performance  of  them  all  here  in 
the  New. 

The  prophets,  they  saw  it  in  vision  and  told  of  it  before  it 
came.  The  Apostles,  they  saw  it  with  their  eyes,  testes  oculatt, 
and  bare  witness  to  it  when  it  was  past.  So  comes  it  down 
to  us.  And  in  the  mouth  of  these  two  witnesses  is  every  Deut.  17, 
truth  that  we  believe  established  among  us.  I  say,  these  ^3  1^  °'' 
two,  the  New  Testament  and  the  Old ;  for  Christ  neither  did 
nor  taught  any  thing  in  the  one,  but  what  was  foretaught 
and  told  of  Him  in  the  other;  nor  can  there  be  a  surer  hold 
or  a  greater  stay  to  our  faith,  than  these  two  thus  joined 
together  as  they  are ;  than  that  those  things  which  we  believe 
of  Christ  by  the  testimony  of  His  Apostles,  should  be  so 
plainly  set  forth  by  the  testimony  of  His  prophets  so  many 

'  See  these    well   summed   up  by  '  In    the   proper  Psalms  and  First 

Gerhard.  Harm.  Evang.,  torn.  iii.  p.      Lessons  appointed  for  that  day. 
1273. 


268  Correspondence  of  the  glory  of  the  ascension 

SEEM,   ages  before  they  came  to  pass.     For  this  can  be  nothing  else 

but  the  power  of  God ;  Who  challengeth  all  the  world  to 

shew  the  like  two  such  witnesses  as  these  two  be. 

I  should  not  so  much  urge  the  truth  of  this  story,  and  the 
grounds  whereupon  we  believe  it, — for  it  is  a  disparagement 
to  our  Christian  faith  to  think  that  any  Christian  does  not 
believe  it, — but  that  we  are  fallen  now  into  such  times, 
wherein  if  we  hold  not  the  faster  to  these  two  grounds  of 
belief,  we  shall  be  in  danger  to  lose  all  and  believe  nothing ; 
the  impostures  of  the  world  having  been  so  many,  among 
them  that  have  been  taught  to  believe  them  upon  any  other 
ground,  that  the  truths  themselves,  such  as  this  is,  which 
they  did  believe  before,  can  scarce  find  now  any  firm  credit 
with  them  at  all.  And  all  for  want  of  this  foundation  of  the 
prophets  and  Apostles,  than  which  there  is  no  firm  ground 
at  all  to  believe  any  thing. 

That  foundation  laid,  we  may  come  the  better  to  look 
upon  all  the  'passages  that  are  here  and  elsewhere  set  forth 
in  this  story,  this  truth,  this  miracle  of  Christ's  ascension. 
I  will  pass  over  them  briefly. 

1.  And  first,  it  was  no  withdrawing  of  Himself  out  of  the 
way,  vanishing  out  of  their  sight  to  some  other  place  here 

Mark  3.  7.  below,  as  He  had  sometimes  done  before ;  but  a  local,  visible, 
"■   ■    ■    and  real  elevation  of  His  body  into  heaven. 

Sublatus  est  in  altum.  So  much  we  have  in  the  first  verse 
of  the  text ;  that  He  was  taken  up  on  high,  the  pitch  of  His 
motion.     And  because  in  altum  might  be  somewhat  a  doubt- 

2  Kings  2.  ful  term, — if  it  had  been  but  as  the  sons  of  the  prophets 
thought  Elias  had  been  taken  up  into  some  higher  top 
among  the  mountains,  it  had  been  in  altum,  that — therefore 
how  high  was  it  ?  So  high,  as  it  is  added  here,  till  a  cloud 
came  and  took  Him  out  of  their  sight.  And  what  became 
of  Him  then  ?  That  the  Angels  supply,  for  though  the  Apo- 
stles could  see  no  farther,  yet  the  Angels  did.     And  they 

ver.  11.  say  that  He  was  taken  up  into  heaven  ;  twice  here  repeated, 
that  there  might  be  no  doubt  made  of  it.  But  after  all 
these,  St.  Paul  takes  the  true  altitude  for  us,  when  he  says 

Eph,  4. 10.  that  He  ascended  far  above  all  the  heavens,  that  is,  to  the 
highest  of  them  all,  there  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 
And  now  He  is  at  His  full  height. 


with  the  humility  of  the  incarnation.  269 

That  place  in  St.  Paul  is  in  his  fourth  chapter  to  the 
Ephesians.  And  we  mentioned  it  the  rather,  because  it 
keeps  a  just  correspondence  between  Christ's  ascending  and 
His  descending;  His  going  up  here  to  heaven,  and  His 
coming  down  hither  to  the  earth;  His  highest  and  His 
lowest.  That  lowest  was  ad  ima  terrce,  to  the  lowest  parts  ver.  9. 
of  the  earth,  to  the  lowest  place,  the  lowest  condition  there 
of  any  others,  none  beneath  Him.  This  highest  was  ad 
summa  cceli,  to  the  highest  top  of  heaven,  to  the  highest 
throne,  the  highest  state  there  of  any  others,  none  above 
Him.  And  this  latter  made  amends  for  the  former;  His 
humility  was  the  merit  of  Ilis  glory,  and  His  glory  was  the 
reward  of  His  humility. 

For  this  cause  He  ascended  out  of  the  grave,  at  Easter, 
from  the  gates  of  death,  wherein  He  was  shut ;  from  the 
jaws  of  death,  whereunto  He  was  taken;  from  the  lower- 
most and  innermost  rooms  of  death;  from  the  den  and 
belly  of  the  whale,  into  which  He  was  swallowed ;  out  of 
all  these  He  ascended  then,  when  He  rose  from  the  dead. 
But  all  these  brought  Him  no  higher  than  to  the  ascension 
of  Jonas  from  the  bottom  of  the  dungeon  to  the  uppermost 
face  of  the  earth.  Now  He  comes  to  the  ascension  of  Elias ; 
from  earth  to  heaven,  from  the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth  to 
the  highest  place  in  heaven,  from  His  De  profundis  then, 
to  His  In  excelsis  now,  from  being  laid  under  a  stone,  to 
sit  at  the  right  hand  of  God ;  and  higher  we  cannot  go. 

This  as  it  was  much  for  His  own  ascent  into  His  glory,  to 
ascend  thither  as  the  Son  of  Man, — for  as  the  Son  of  God  in 
that  nature.  He  ascended  not.  That  was  always  in  glory  be- 
fore,— so  makes  it  much  for  our  hopes  of  ascending  thither 
after  Him.  For  His  being  above  before,  before  He  was 
below,  that  makes  nothing  to  us,  rather  makes  all  against 
us ;  but  His  being  below  first,  descending  to  the  lowest  con- 
dition of  men,  and  then  in  that  condition  going  up,  ascend- 
ing to  the  highest  state  of  heaven,  and  carrying  our  nature 
thither  with  Him, — this  is  that  we  hold  by,  and  by  nothing 
else.  For  if  the  Son  of  Man  be  gone  up,  we  have  all  hope 
that  the  sons  of  men  may  get  up  thither  after  Him. 

And  so  they  may,  saith  the  Apostle,  if  they  take  the  same  Phil, 
way  to  come  thither,  that  He  did;  Who  in  this,  as  in  all 


270  The  circumstances  of  the  ascension. 

SERM.  things  else,  is  our  pattern.    Our  books  tell  us  that  the  Scrip 


ture  will  bear  two  senses,  the  literal  and  the  moral  S;  make 
use  of  it  here.  That  to  get  high  is  first  to  become  low ;  to 
learn  that  Christian  virtue  of  Him,  which  is  not  to  be  learnt, 
which  is  not  to  be  seen,  in  all  the  philosopher's  ethics,  the 
virtue  of  humility,  a  virtue  that  the  world  looks  not  after, 
puts  it  out  of  all  place ;  but  in  heaven  it  sits,  at  the  highest. 

Ascendit  Lucifer  et  factus  est  diabolus,  there  was  one  in 
that  kingdom  that  would  needs  be  getting  up  into  the  king's 
throne;  and  God  threw  him  down  to  the  bottom  of  hell, 
made  him  a  devil,  and  all  his  like  high-minded  rebels 
with  him. 

Descendit  Christus,  et  factus  est  Caput  Angelorum.  He 
that  sat  in  a  throne  there  Himself,  was  content  to  leave  it ; 
content  to  do  a  great  deal  more,  to  take  upon  Him  the  form 
of  a  servant,  the  form  of  a  malefactor,  the  form  of  humility ; 
and  in  that  form  is  brought  to  the  throne  again;  in  that 
form  exalted  far  above  all  principalities  and  powers.  Quern 
Acts  4.  reprobarunt,  factus  est  Caput  anguli.  Which  is  St.Chryso- 
'     '        stom's  meditation  upon  Christ's  ascension. 

And  now  it  is  a  good  sight  to  behold  Christ  thus  ascend- 
ing to  the  heavens ;  a  better  sight  to  see  Him  as  an  eagle 
in  the  clouds  than  as  a  worm  in  the  dust,  for  so  they  used 
Him.  But  thus  God  exalted  Him.  And  so  much  for  sub- 
latus  est  in  altum. 

2.  Secondly,  videntibus  Apostolis,  that  the  Apostles  looked 
on  and  saw  it,  that  they  might  testify  the  truth  of  it  and 
make  an  article  of  the  Creed  of  it,  as  they  did  that  went 
before. 

3.  And  thirdly,  that  a  cloud  came  and  took  Him  out  of 
their  sight.  That  sets  us  but  forward  to  look  after  somewhat 
else,  unless  we  will  make  this  use  of  the  cloud  before  we 
part  with  it;  that  it  parts  Christ's  bodily  presence  clean  from 

2 Cor.  5.     us;  that,  as  St. Paul  said,  if  Christ  was  once  known  after 

^^'  the  flesh,  yet  now  from  henceforth  we  shall  know  Him  so  no 

more.     The  cloud  has  removed  Him  from  us.     And  if  either 

St.  Paul  says  true  here,  or  St.  Luke  true  here,  the  truth  is, 

R  Bellarm.  de  Verbi  Dei  interpret,      passage  in  his  Loci  Comm.  Theologici, 
lib.  iii.  cap.  3.  §  Ut  igiliir.     But  see      torn.  L  p.  67.  ed.  Cottse,  1762. 
the  criticisms  of  Gerhard   upon   this 


Christ's  bodily  presence  vohy  removed.  271 

they  are  but  in  a  cloud  still  that  fancy  His  fleshly  presence 
to  be  still  among  them ;  it  is  but  a  cloud  in  their  own  heads, 
that,  for  Christ  is  where  He  should  be ;  this  cloud  has  taken 
His  bodily  and  fleshly  manner  of  being  here,  from  among 
us  all.  It  is  His  spiritual  presence  that  we  must  hold  to 
now,  and  that  is  as  real  a  presence  as  any  His  body  or  His 
flesh  ever  was,  or  ever  can  be. 

And  there  is  an  advantage  got  by  it  besides.  For  by'  His 
corporal  presence  He  could  have  been  resident  but  in  one 
place  at  a  time,  never  was  otherwise ;  as  if  He  had  been 
with  St.  James  at  Jerusalem,  He  had  not  been  at  the  same 
time  with  St.  John  at  Ephesus,  or  with  St.  Peter  at  Babylon, 
or  with  St.  Thomas  at  the  Indies — but  by  His  spiritual  pre- 
sence, which  was  to  succeed  the  corporal,  wheresoever  they 
were.  He  could  be,  and  was,  present  with  them  all,  and  all 
at  a  time,  with  all  and  every  one  by  Himself.  For  by  His 
Spirit  He  can  be  every  where,  truly  and  really  every  where, 
where  it  pleaseth  Him ;  and  so  with  us. 

The  corporal  therefore  was  removed  that  the  spiritual 
might  take  place,  the  visible  taken  away  that  the  invisible 
might  follow  J  and  neither  they,  nor  we,  in  sight  and  sense 
as  before,  but  in  spirit  and  truth  henceforth  to  cleave  unto 
Him.  For  which  purpose  we  have  still  a  pentecost  to  come 
after  an  ascension,  and  to  put  us  all  in  mind  of  it. 

This  will  make  us  say,  when  we  can  see  Him  no  longer 
for  the  cloud,  as  we  said  here  the  other  day  iu  the  Psalm  of 
ascension,  'Grood  Lord,  set  up  Thyself  above  the  heavens, 
and  Thy  glory  above  all  the  earth  •».'  Let  Him  be  where 
He  is,  we  shall  lose  nothing  by  it. 

III.  And  now  we  come  from  the  Apostles  to  the  Angels, 
to  see  what  they  do  here ;  what  they  do,  and  what  they  say. 

When  the  Apostle  tells  us  that  Christ  was  received  up  i  Tim.  3. 
into  glory,  he  tells  us  there  iu  the  same  period  that  He  was 
seen  of  Angels. 

Here  they  are  said  to  be  two  men  in  white  apparel.  Let 
not  that  trouble  us ;  St.  Paul  took  them  to  be  Angels,  and 
from  Him  all  Christians  have  taken  them  to  be  so  ever 
since ;   there  was  never  any  of  them  understood  this  place 

*  Ps.  57.  6.  One  of  the  proper  Psalms  for  Mattins  on  Easter  day. 


272  The  Angels'  exhortation  to  the  Apostles. 

SEEM,  to  be  meant  of  any  other.    So  here  we  have  men  and  Angels 
— - — '■ —  brought  together,  to  wait  upon  Christ's  ascension. 

When  God  first  brought  His  Son  into  the  world,  the  same 
Heb.  1.  6.  Apostle  says,  it  was  then  said,  Let  the  Angels  of  God  come 
down  and  worship  Him ;  and  so  they  did.  And  when  God 
here  carries  His  Son  out  of  the  world,  they  come  down  to 
worship  Him  again;  for  as  He  is  the  Son  of  man.  He  is 
Lord  both  of  men  and  Angels. 

But  Christ  is  gone  up  and  the  Angels  stay  still  below, 
they  have  somewhat  to  teach  the  disciples  before  they  go  up 
after  Him,  and  by  them  to  learn  us  before  they  leave  them. 

1.  First,  they  stood  by  them ;  and  it  was  no  little  honour 
to  the  Apostles,  this,  and  to  the  religion  which  they  preached 
to  us,  that  they  had  these  blessed  spirits,  the  Angels,  to 
assist  them,  as  they  had  many  and  divers  times  after 
besides.  When  that  religion  was  once  preached  to  the 
world,  the  Angels  appeared  no  more,  their  work  and  their 
errand  was  done ;  and  now  we  are  to  hold  us  to  those  re- 
cords that  we  have  of  them.  They  who  at  any  time  have 
set  up  another  religion  in  the  world  than  the  Apostles  did, 
let  them  shew  that  ever  they  got  a  true  Angel  to  them. 

2.  They  stood  by  them  in  white  apparel;  which  was  a 
symbol  not  only  of  their  own  purity,  and  integrity  of  their 
nature,  but  of  their  joy  and  triumph  likewise,  that  was  made 
both  by  them  and  by  all  their  fellow- Angels  in  heaven  for 
the  coming  up  of  Christ,  the  Son  of  God  and  man,  thither. 

3.  They  are  here  said  to  be  but  two.  It  must  be  meant 
of  those  two  that  stayed   behind  with  the  Apostles,  that. 

Ps.  68. 17.  For  otherwise  the  Scripture  is  clear,  that  Christ  had  twenty 
thousand  of  them ;  that  is,  Angels  without  number,  to  at- 
tend upon  Him.  The  chariots  of  God  are  twenty  thousand, 
and  thousands  of  Angels  in  them  all,  when  He  ascended  up 
on  high.  That  Scripture  in  the  Psalm  prophesied  of  this 
in  St.  Luke. 

4.  They  are  said  to  appear  here  in  the  form  of  men.  I 
wish  that  this  might  not  trouble  you.  A  good  Angel  never 
yet  appeared  in  any  other  form  ;  and  in  some  external  form 
or  other  they  must  appear  to  the  Apostles,  or  else  the 
Apostles,  that  were  men  themselves,  could  never  have  seen 
them.     Men  see  no  spirits,  as  they  are  spirits ;  there  is  no 


The  Apostles,  why  addressed  as  '  men  of  Galilee.'     273 

proportion  between  them,  they  converse  not  in  that  manner 
with  them. 

But  yet  if  they  be  Angels,  why  are  they  not  called 
Angels?  why  are  they  said  to  be  men?  Here  St.  Austin's' 
rule  will  serve  for  this,  and  for  many  a  case  besides.  He 
gives  it  in  the  Sacraments,  In  divinis  Scripturis  sacranienta 
earum  rerum  nomina  sortiuntur,  quarum  sunt  similitudines. 
The  Sacraments  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  have  the  names  of 
those  things  given  them,  of  which  things  they  are  but  simi- 
litudes;— he  adds,  and  so  do  we, — but  such  similitudes  as 
carry  their  truth  always  with  them.  And  thus  was  it  here. 
These  men  were  but  the  similitudes  of  men,  but  those  simi- 
litudes had  the  true  persons  of  Angels  with  them. 

V.  Then  fifthly,  now  we  see  what  they  are,  let  us  hear 
what  they  say. 

'  Who  also  said,  Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  looking 
into  heaven  ? ' 

1.  First,  they  call  them   Viri    Galilai,  and   this   to   put 
them  in  mind  both  from  whence  they  came,  and  whither  Mat. 26. 32. 
they  were  to  go. 

To  Galilee  not  long  since  had  Christ  gone  before  them.  Mat.  28. 7. 
There,  after  His  resurrection  He  gave  them  His  precepts,  ^^'  ^' 
those  precepts  above  all  other  things  not  to  be  forgotten. 

From  thence  came  Peter  and  Andrew,  James  and  John,  Joh.  i.  44. 
and  all ;  they  were  all  Galileans,  and  had  seen  Christ's  first  ^°'%c.' 
glory  there.     Here  they  saw  His  last. 

It  was  called  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles,  for  it  was  set  in  the  Mat.  4.  is. 
confines  of  them,  though  it  was  itself  in  Judea  ^.     And  now 
Christ  was  gone  up,  they  were  to  go  down  and  preach  Christ 
to  them  both ;  to  Jews,  and  Gentiles,  and  all. 

Where  it  is  not  amiss  to  take  notice  of  the  word,  that 
Galilee  signifies  *a  revolution.'  And  these  Galileans  hadSeeCru- 
not  their  name  for  nothing,  they  made  that  word  good ; 
they  made  such  a  revolution  in  the  world  as  was  never  made 
before.  For  at  their  preaching  of  Christ,  they  made  dark- 
ness light,  and  turned  the  world  round.     About  came  the 

'  Si  enim  sacraraenta  quamdam  si-  sarum  rerum  nomina  accipiunt. — 0pp., 

militudinem  earum  rerum,  quarum  sa-  tom.  ii.  col.  202. 

cramenta  sunt,  non  haberent,  omnino  ''  See  Spanhem.  0pp.,  tom.  i.  p.  39  ; 

sacramenta  non   essent.     Ex  hac  au-  Wells's    Geography,    vol.    ii.   p.  I?*, 

tem  similitudine  plerumque  etiam  ip-  edit.  1819. 

COSIN.  T 


274  The  revolution  produced  by  Christianity. 

SEEM,  councillor,  the  scribe,  the  philosopher,  the  orator,  the  cen- 
— =^-^ —  turion,  the  senator,  and  the  emperor  and  all ;  so  that  from 
Joh.  1. 46.  these  Galileans,  the  persons  and  the  place  from  whence 
some  others  said  no  good  thing  could  come,  there  was  once 
brought  one  of  the  best  things  that  ever  the  world  had. 
And  so  would  the  world  find  it,  both  for  peace  and  justice, 
for  a  virtuous  life,  and  for  an  uncorrupt  religion,  every  way, 
if  men  would  not  revolve  and  turn  themselves  back  again 
from  that  point  whereunto  these  Galileans  first  converted 
them  ;  or  if  they  would  but  yet  redire  ad  principia,  return 
to  Christ's  own  rules,  for  that  is  to  be  a  right  Galilean. 

Peradventure  Julian  and  his  followers  will  deride  both  the 
Galileans  and  all  besides  that  refer  to  them ;  but  their 
comfort  is,  that  Christ  their  master,  and  His  Angels  here, 
will  acknowledge  them.  They  went  for  the  heretics  of 
Seep.  141.  Julian's  time;  vicisti,  Galilcee,  was  his  last  word,  and  his 
utmost  scorn  ;  but  it  cost  him  dear,  that ;  he  had  as  good 
have  let  the  Galilean  and  His  true  followers  alone.  This  for 
viri  Galilcei. 

2.  Then  secondly.  Quid  statis  aspicientes  ?  The  Angels 
ask  the  Apostles  here,  why  they  stood  looking  still  into 
heaven  ?  Which  being  nothing  else  but  a  fair  reducing  of 
them  from  that  sight,  the  end  whereof  they  would  otherwise 
gladly  have  seen,  I  will  the  more  readily  pass  it  over;  the 
rather  because  I  do  not  take  it,  as  I  see  some  men  are  some- 
what too  apt  to  do  \  to  be  any  great  reprehension  of  them  ; 
for  who  can  much  blame  them  if  they  be  loath  to  let  their 
eyes  go  from  Him,  if  they  desire  to  see  an  end  of  that  sight, 
the  like  whereof  was  never  seen  before  nor  since  ? 

Yet  since  the  clouds  would  let  them  see  Him  no  longer, 
it  was  time  to  take  them  off  from  having  recourse  to  this 
corporal  presence  any  more,  and  to  bid  them  look  now  after 
His  Spirit,  which  is  to  send  them  away  about  the  errand 
that  He  had  given  them  before. 

This  is  sure,  that  Christ  is  gone  and  taken  up  into  heaven, 

both  from  their  sight  and  ours,  from  whence  He  will  not 

Acts  3.  21.  return  in  any  bodily  manner  again,  till,  as  St.  Peter  says, 

hereafter,  the  time  of  restitution  comes ;  till  He  comes  at 

last  to  take  an  account  of  the  world,  both  how  His  Spirit  has 

>  See  Poli  Synops. 


Practical  deduction  from  the  text.  275 

been  used  by  them,  and  how  they  have  entertained  that 
errand  which  His  Apostles  here  brought  to  them.  And 
then  both  they,  and  we,  and  all  the  world,  shall  see  Him  ; 
see  Him  coming  down  in  the  clouds  again,  as  here  He  went 
up ;  which  if  we  had  time  to  go  through  them,  the  Angels' 
last  words,  and  the  last  part  of  all,  '  This  same  Jesus, 
Whom  you  have  seen  taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall 
so  come  in  like  manner  as  you  have  seen  Him  go  into 
heaven.' 

But  all  this  concerns  another  article  of  religion,  which,  to 
set  it  forth  right  as  it  should  be,  will  require  another  sermon. 
This  was  designed  and  intended  only  for  the  ascension. 

Let  the  end  of  all  be,  that  as  Christ  is  gone  up  to  heaven 
before  us,  so  we  may  prepare  to  go  up  thither  after  Him ;  for 
His  going  up  thither  was  not  altogether  for  Himself;  thither  Heb.  6. 20. 
is  He  gone  as  our  forerunner,  saith  the  Apostle ;  to  lay  open  Mai.  3. 1. 
the  way  before  us,  saith  the  prophet ;  to  prepare  a  place  for  Job.  14.  2. 
us,  saith  He  Himself.     It  is  but  in  heart  and  mind  that  we 
can  get  thither  yet ;   sed  qui  posuit  ascensiones  in  corde,  he 
that  can  set  his  heart  upon  His  ascension  here,  shall  not  fail 
to  be  with   Him   in   person   hereafter.      To  which   blessed 
estate,  the  end  of  our  desires  here  and  of  our  fruition  there. 
He  vouchsafe  to  bring  us  all ;  to  Him,  with  the  Father  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  one  eternal  Deity,  be  all  honour  and  glory 
now  and  for  evermore.     Amen. 


t2 


SEEMON   XX. 


PARIS,   IN   TESTO   NATIVITATIS   CHEISTI,    1651,   [nEW   STYLE.] 

COEAM  EEGE  CAEOLO. 

St.  John  i.  9,  10.     Evangelium  Diei. 
Erat  Ille  lux  ilia,  et  vera  ilia  lux,  ^c. 

He  was  that  light,  or.  That  light  was  the  true  light,  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world,  and  He  was 
in  the  world. 

SEEM.      The  Gospel  of  St.  John  contains  all  divinity ;  this  chapter, 
— ^^ —  all  the  Gospel ;  and  this  text,  all  the  chapter. 

It  is  of  a  light  that  shined  in  darkness  ;  that  darkness  was 
the  world,  and  that  light  was  Christ,  Whose  coming  into  the 
world  we  are  now  come  to  remember,  at  all  times  to  be  re- 
membered, but  at  this  time  above  others,  when  this  feast 
is  held,  the  feast  of  Christ's  nativity,  which  St.  Chrysostom 
calls  omnium  festorum  metropolin  %  the  metropolitan  feast  of 
the  Christians,  whereon  they  met  together  in  a  solemnity'' 
every  year  to  celebrate  the  contents  of  this  Gospel  of  St. 
John,  which  was  read  to-day  in  the  Church  *=. 
Ezek.  1.  Of  the  vision  in  one  of  the  prophets,  that  was  presented 
to  him  in  four  several  shapes,  it  hath  been  usually  received 
amongst  Christians  ^  to  apply  the  eagle  to  St.  John. 

And  the  nature  of  the  eagle  hath  two  special  properties, 

■  Kot  yhp  eopr)]  jUe'AAei  itpotr^Kavveiv  ^  See  Bingham,  xx.  4.  §  5. 

7)  iraawv  foprwv  a-ffipoTaTTj  koI  (ppiKco-  '^  As  the  Gospel  for  Christmas  day. 

SearaTT],  ^v  ovk  &v  tis  aixdproi,  iJ.-r]Tp6-  ^  See  S.  Jerome  adv.  Jovian.,  lib.  i. 

troKiv    traawv   raiv   kopruv   Trpoffeiirwi'.  torn.  iii.  Opp.,  p.  16,  and  the  authorities 

S.  Chrysost.  Horn.  31.  de  Philogonis,  cited  by  Pritius  in  his  Introductio  in 

torn.  i.  p.  353.  ed.  Francof.  cited  by  lect.  N.  T,,  p.  218.  ed.  1737. 
Bingham,  xx.  4.  §  5. 


10. 


Division  of  the  subject  under  discussion.  277 

both  described  and  set  forth  to  us  in  the  book  of  Job. 
Whereof  the  first  is  ipsum  lucis  fontem  aspicere,  to  tower  Job  89. 27. 
the  highest  of  any  fowl  under  heaven,  and  to  look  upon 
the  light  of  the  sun  itself.  The  other  is  advolare  ad.  cor-  Job  9. 26. 
pora,  to  fly  down  suddenly  upon  the  earth,  and  to  be  where 
the  body  is.  Which  two,  if  they  be  applied  to  Christ,  are 
lively  expressed  by  St. John;  and  nowhere  more  lively  than 
in  the  Gospel  of  this  day. 

For  as  an  eagle  in  the  clouds;  first,  he  mounteth  high  and 
casts  his  eyes  upon  the  brightness  of  that  light  by  which  all 
the  lights  and  all  the  things  of  heaven  and  earth  were  first 
made,  the  light  that  was  with  God  from  all  eternity,  that  is, 
was  God  Himself.     Higher  he  could  not  go. 

And  after  this,  down  he  flies  from  this  height  above  to  the 
body  that  he  saw  here  below,  from  Verbum  Beus  to  Verbtim 
caro,  which  is  the  mystery  of  Christ's  incarnation ;  and  both 
these,  the  mystery  of  this  day  and  the  light  of  this  text. 

Wherein,  because  it  is  too  long  to  go  through  it  all  at  one 
time,  therefore  at  this  time  we  shall  insist  only  upon  such 
branches  as  will  arise  out  of  these  two  considerations ;  a  per- 
sonal light  and  a  real  light.  (1.)  First,  who  this  light  is,  and 
then  (2.)  what  it  is  ;  where  we  must  look  both  upon  the  light 
of  faith  and  grace,  which  is  here  also  intended,  and  upon  the 
light  of  nature  and  reason,  which  is  a  lesser  beam  that  flows 
from  it;  besides  some  other  lights  that  we  may  reflect  on  in 
the  world,  which  will  admit  of  an  application  to  the  true 
light  of  this  text.  And  this  light  was  as  this  day  presented 
to  the  world,  this  day  of  Christ's  blessed  nativity. 

Whereof  that  we  may  speak  to  the  honour  of  God,  and 
the  preserving  of  Christ's  true  light  and  religion  among 
us,  we  beseech  Him  for  the  assistance  of  His  blessed 
Spirit. 

Remembering  our  duty,  and  putting  you  all  in  mind  to 
pray,  both  now  and  always,  for  the  good  estate  of,  &c. 
Therein  for  the  king's  most  excellent  majesty,  in  whose 
presence  now  we  are,  our  sovereign  master. 

Rendering  likewise  praise  for  all  God's  mercies  and 
favours  to  His  Church ;  chiefly,  as  we  now  come  to  ac- 
knowledge it,  for  the  blessed  incarnation  of  our  Saviour, 
and  for  the  light  of  grace  and  truth  that  this  day  shined 


278  Si.  John^s  Gospel  rejected  by  the  heretics. 

s  E  R  M.      upon  the  darkness  of  error  and  ignorance  ;  as  also  for  all 

'■ —      them  that  have  been  children  of  this  light  and  have  cast 

away  the  works  of  darkness  from  them,  and  put  on  the 
armour  of  light,  the  choice  vessels  of  His  grace,  and  the 
shining  lights  of  the  world,  in  their  several  generations 
before  us.  Most  humbly  beseeching  Him,  &c.  Con- 
cluding, as  we  shall  do  now,  with 

Pater  Noster,  ^c. 

Erat  Ille  lux  ilia.     That  light  was  the  true  light. 

It  was  an  injury  common  to  all  the  four  Evangelists,  that 
all  their  Grospels  were  severally  refused  by  one  sect  of 
heretics  or  other,  and  this  we  have  from  Irenseus^  who 
lived  in  their  time,  and  wrote  against  them,  not  long  after 
the  time  of  the  Apostles. 

But  it  was  a  peculiar  injury,  and  proper  to  St.  John  alone, 
to  be  refused  by  a  sect  that  admitted  all  the  other  three 
Evangelists,  and  rejected  his  Gospel  only;  and  this  we  have 
from  Epiphanius  ^,  who  wrote  of  them  in  his  time,  and  called 
them,  as  the  Christians  then  did,  ol  ^CkocrKioX,  or  lucifugi, 
that  is,  men  that  loved  their  own  darkness,  and  hated  this 
light  so  much,  which  St.  John  here  sets  forth,  as  that  they 
could  neither  abide  to  see  it  nor  to  hear  of  it.  They  would 
none  of  his  Gospel,  because  there  was  a  light  in  it  that  dis- 
covered their  darkness,  the  darkness  of  their  deeds,  and  the 
darkness  of  their  wits  besides. 

For  they  were  a  limb  and  a  branch  of  the  black  rowled 
Arian;  who  being  unable  to  look  upon  the  glorious  splen- 
dour of  this  light  attributed  by  St.  John  to  Christ,  and  not 
comprehending  the  great  mystery  of  this  day,  that  He  Who 
was  Verbum  caro,  and  came  into  the  world,  was  Verbum 
Deus  too,  before  all  worlds;  they  took  a  round  and  a  short 
way  to  condemn  all  that  they  did  not  by  the  light  of  their 
own  wits  and  reason  understand,  and  therefore  they  refused 
the  whole  Gospel ». 

'  S.  Irenaeus,  lib.  iii.  cap.  ii.  p.  192.  admitted  the  other  Gospels,  refused  to 

edit.  Massuet.  accept  that  of  St.  John.     See  also  Phi- 

'  S.Epiph.  adv.  Haeres.  li.  §  3.  (adv.  lastr.  de  Hasres.,  cap.  60. 

Haeres.  Alogorum,)  toiii.i.  p.  i^l.  edit.  «  See  Pritius,  Introd.  ad  lectionem 

P  r.  1622.      Irenaeus,  lib.  iii.  cap.  ii.  N.  T.,  p.  200. 
J.  192,  informs  us  that  heretics  who 


Comprehensive  nature  of  the  text,  279 

Indeed  liis  whole  Gospel  is  comprehended  in  this  very 
beginning  of  it ;  and  in  a  few  verses  here  at  first,  whereof 
this  text  is  one,  he  hath  contracted  all  that  which  is  exten- 
sively spread  and  dilated  through  the  whole  book. 

For  here  is,  first,  the  foundation  of  all  in  the  divinity  of 
Christ,  that  light ;  and  secondly,  here  is  the  execution  of  all 
in  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  another  light;  and  thirdly,  here 
is  the  effect  of  all  in  the  application  of  Christ,  which  is  a  light 
of  grace  and  truth  revealed  to  all  the  world ;  points  of  belief 
all,  and  proper  to  this  day,  but  no  less  behoveful  for  us 
than  points  of  practice  be.  For  I  believe  the  reason  that 
most  men  live  no  better  is,  because  they  believe  no  better. 
They  think  too  meanly  of  Christ,  they  apprehend  not  truly 
what  He  is,  they  are  offended  in  Ilim.  For  if  they  did  in- 
deed believe  either  the  majesty  of  His  person,  or  the  great- 
ness of  His  power,  or  the  mystery  of  His  incarnation,  or  the 
truth  of  His  word,  they  would  not,  they  durst  not,  take  that 
liberty  that  they  do  to  follow  their  own  ways  so  much,  and 
to  regard  H  is  so  little,  as  most  an  end  they  are ;  for  this  is 
both  their  rule  and  ours;  theirs,  the  less  faith  men  have 
of  Christ  the  less  reverence  they  will  be  bound  to  have  for 
Him ;  and  ours,  the  surer  belief,  the  better  life. 

Begin  then  with  His  divinity,  which  is  His  first,  Erat  Ille 
lux  ilia,  His  eternal  light,  in  Verbum  erat  inprincipio ;  for  that  Joh.  1. 1. 
Verbum,  that  Verb,  that  Word,  was  Christ,  and  whoever  likes 
not  that  word  there  used  for  Him  thinks  himself  wiser  than 
St.  John  and  Him  both,  and  must  of  necessity  get  him  either 
a  new  grammar  or  a  new  Scripture.  But  St.  John  must  not 
be  taught  how  to  speak.  Christ  was  that  Word  and  that  Word 
was  this  Light,  and  this  Light  was  from  the  beginning  here, 
and  that  beginning  was  before  the  beginning  of  Genesis ;  for 
that  was  but  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and  this  was  before 
all  worlds,  this  Light  before  all  other  lights  whatsoever ;  for  all 
other  lights  were  made  by  It,  a.nd  fiat  lux  was  the  first  word 
that  this  Word  spake  when  He  made  all  the  world  besides. 

And  though  the  first  book  of  the  Bible,  that  Genesis,  and 
the  last  book  of  it,  this  Gospel,  (for  this  was  the  last  book** 
that  was  written  of  all  the  Bible,)  though  they  begin  both 

^  See  Epiphan.  Hxres.  li.  §  12.  and  Lampe  Cuiiiment.  in  S.Joan.,  torn.  i. 
p.  151. 


280  The  eternal  Godhead  of  the  Son. 

SEEM,  with  the  same  words,  *  In  the  beginning/  both  this  and  that, 
—  yet  if  Moses's  beginning  begins  only  with  the  creation,  which 


was  not  yet  six  thousand  years  since,  and  St.  John's  be- 
ginning begins  with  Christ's  eternity,  which  no  millions  of 
years  can  calculate,  then  was  that  first  beginning  of  Genesis 
far  and  long  after  the  last  beginning  of  this  Gospel,  and 
St,  John  mounted  higher  than  ever  Moses  did,  to  look  upon 
a  brighter  light  than  he.  And  this  was  lux  Verbi,  that 
this  light  was  the  Word  and  the  Son  of  God,  Who  was 
Eom.  9.  5.  with  God  from  all  eternity,  and  that  this  Son  of  God  was 
31,  ■  '  God  Himself,  blessed  for  ever.  A  point  of  faith  founded 
upon  this  place  of  Scripture,  which  did  so  vex  and  anguish 
the  Arian  of  old,  as  it  does  the  newer  Arian,  the  Socinian, 
at  this  day,  that  receiving  this  Scripture,  which  they  dare 
not  yet  deny,  and  being  disfurnished  of  all  other  escapes, 
they  are  fain  to  turn  light  into  darkness  and  to  corrupt  the 
place  with  a  false  interpunction  ^  between  Verbum  erat  and 
Deus  ;  and  thereby  make  no  sense  of  the  words  which  they 
are  not  willing  to  understand. 

But  the  brightness  of  this  light  dazzled  them,  and  His 
incarnation,  which  is  here  the  second  light,  put  out  their 
eyes.  For  through  that  cloud,  the  cloud  of  His  flesh,  as 
they  called  it,  they  could  see  no  light  at  all,  more  than, 
as  they  said,  every  man  has  besides,  as  well  as  He;  and 
so  they  made  the  mystery  of  godliness  to  be  the  detriment 
of  the  Godhead. 

Notwithstanding  there  is  such  a  perspicuity  in  this  cloud 
of  His  incarnation,  that  by  the  very  light  of  reason,  if  we 
had  nothing  but  that  to  help  us,  we  might  see  somewhat 
else  through  it;  and  by  the  light  of  grace,  and  faith  in 
God's  word,  which  may  make  use  of  our  reason  too, 
much  more. 

It  is  a  clear  and  a  bright  cloud  this,  like  that  wherein  He 
Mat.  17.  5.  was  wrapped  and  encompassed  when  He  was  transfigured  in 
His  glory.     We  may  see  all  these  lights  through  it. 

(1.)  First,  because  caro  would  have  been  verbum,  when  he 
that  was  but  flesh  and  blood  would  needs  have  been  wiser 
than  the  Word  of  God  Itself,  and  know  what  was  good  or  ill 

'  See  Scherzer  Colleg.  Anti-Socin.,  vatious  upon  this  passage  contained  in 
p.  390.  ed.  Lips.  1672,  and  the  obser-      the  Curae  Philologicse  of  Wolfius. 


In  what  respects  Christ  is  '  the  Light.^  281 

for  liim  better  than  He,  which  was  our  utter  undoing ; 
therefore  that  Verbum  should  become  caro  was  the  only  way 
to  restore  us,  and  set  all  right  again  with  Him  That  had 
been  so  justly  oflFended  against  us.  For  otherwise  non 
potuit  impleri  justitia,  God's  justice  might  never  have  been 
satisfied  ;  His  mercy  peradventure  might,  but  His  justice 
never ;  and  His  justice  was  as  tender  and  dear  an  attribute 
to  Him  as  His  mercy  is.  So  that  this  light  is  here  clear 
enough  in  Christ's  coming  to  the  world  to  save  us  from  per- 
petual ruin  and  darkness.  Si  caro  verbum,  if  our  taking 
upon  us  the  person  and  power  of  God  were  our  only  bane, 
then  Verbum  caro,  His  taking  upon  Him  the  nature  and 
condition  of  man,  wherein  to  reconcile  and  satisfy  that  per- 
son, was  to  be  our  only  remedy ;  for  none  can  satisfy  the 
infinite  offended  justice  of  God,  but  one  that  was  infinite  in 
worth  and  justice  Himself,  which  none  of  us  ever  were,  or 
ever  will  be,  take  us  altogether,  all  the  world  over,  aud  in 
all  ages  of  the  world  besides.  Sed  erat  Ille  lux  ilia,  He  only 
was  the  light  that  could  come  shining  out  upon  this  dark- 
ness and  give  it  this  lustre. 

(2.)  Then,  secondly,  Verbum  lucerna,  which  is  another  Ps.  119. 
light  that  He  brought  with  Him,  to  manifest  Himself  to  be 
the  only  person  of  Whom  so  many  excellent  things  were 
spoken,  all  along  this  book;  and  that  it  was  He  in  Whom 
all  the  words  of  all  the  former  promises  and  prophecies  in 
this  book  were  fulfilled.     So  was  He  the  light  objective. 

Again,  for  that  He  came  to  disclose  to  us  all  the  whole 
counsel  of  God,  as  the  light  discovereth  any  hidden  thing 
whatsoever,  aud  the  Apostle  tells  us  of  the  hidden  things  of 
God,  and  of  the  mystery  that  had  been  kept  secret  in  all  Eph.  3. 3, 
ages  before;  this  mystery  did  this  light  discover,  and  left 
out  none  of  it  to  be  discovered  in  after  ages  neither  in 
scrinio  pectoris  of  no  mortal  man  whosoever;  for  by  Him, 
by  Christ  only,  we  know  whatsoever  we  are  to  know,  or 
shall  ever  know,  of  God's  mind  to  us  in  any  age.  So  was 
He  the  light  effective. 

And  lastly,  for  that  He  came  to  us  not  only  as  a  Saviour 
to  redeem  us,  but  as  a  light  to  direct  us,  and  to  shew  us 
where  our  way  lies,  that  we  might  come  to  Him  and  be 
made  capable  of  His  redemption.    That  way  lies  in  His  word. 


282  The  light  mentioned  in  the  text  is 

SEEM,  and  it  is  nowhere  else  to  be  found.     Lucerna  pedibus  meis 
Verbum  Tuum.     And  so  was  He  the  light  praceptive. 


Ps.  119. 

105.  Now  among  all  these  lights,  I  miss  the  light  of  nature, 

and  some  other  lights  besides,  which  be  either  dim  and 
weak  lights,  till  this  ilia  Ivx,  this  clear  and  divine  light, 
comes  to  help  them ;  or  else  they  be  deceitful  and  false 
lights,  till  this  vera  lux,  this  supernatural  and  true  light, 
comes  to  discover  them. 

There  is  in  the  verse  before  somewhat  said  to  this  pur- 

ver.  8.  pose  of  the  dim  and  weaker  lights ;  non  erat  tile  ilia  lux, 
'  He  was  not  that  light.'  It  was  said  of  a  saint,  and  the 
greatest  saint  that  was  then  upon  the  earth;  for  there  was 

Mat.  11.     not  a  greater  than  John  the  Baptist. 

It  is  true  that  Christ  Himself  called  him  a  light,  and  a 

Joh.  5.  35.  light  with  large  additions,  a  burning  and  a  shining  light ; 
but   yet   with   this   restriction   made  by   himself,   that  his 

Joh.  3.  30.  light  should  diminish  and  waste  as  it  burnt,  so  should  not 
Christ's  ;  they  are  the  saint's  own  words.  Nor  did  ever  any 
man  else  say  of  him  as  they  that  think  they  cannot  say  too 
much  of  some  other  saints,  when  tliey  pray  to  them  and  call 
them  fontes  lucis,  the  very  fountain  and  source  of  light; 
which  by  our  book  here  can  be  given  to  none  but  God. 
It  is  true  likewise  that  all  the  ^Apostles  are  said  to  be 

Mat.  5. 14.  lights,  Vos  estis  lux  mundi,  but  yet  with  the  like  limitation, 
that  they  were  but  set  up  to  convey  the  light  of  this  text  to 
the  world. 

Eph.  5. 8.  It  is  as  true  that  all  faithful  Christians '  are  said  to  be 
'  light,  and  to  walk  in  the  light ;  but  all  this  is  but  to  signify 
that  they  had  been  in  darkness  before.  Light  they  were, 
but  light  by  reflection  and  illustration  of  this  essential  and 
supernatural  light ;  which  Christ  only  is.  For  He  was  the 
fountain  of  all  their  light,  fons  lucis  He,  and  light  so  as 
nobody  else  was  so,  with  His  distinctive  article  and  His 
peculiar  addition,  both  ilia  and  vera. 

For  non  sic  dicitur  lux  stout  lapis,  as  St.  Austin  said  when 
he  was  once  preaching  upon   this  text :    Christ  is  not  so 

iCor.10.4.  called  Light  here,  as  elsewhere  He  is  called  a  Rock,  or  a 

7,  9.     "      Door,  or  a  Vine  ;  as  His  flesh  is  called  Meat,  and  His  blood 

Joh.  6!'55!  ^^^d  *o  be  Drink  ;  for  the  one  He  is  truly  and  properly  called, 
and  these  other  are  but  a  metaphor.     Non  enim  hunc  carnem 


superior  to  tJie  light  of  nature  and  reason.  283 

quern  videtis,  manducaturi  estis,  sed  spiritualiter  intelligite ; 
*ye  shall  not  eat  this  flesh  which  ye  see,  but  after  a  spiritual 
manner,  in  that  sense  real.'  And  so  are  you  to  understand 
it,  which  in  St.  Austin's  days  was  the  true  Catholic  doctrine 
of  the  Church,  and  so  it  is  still ;  for  the  other  new  doctrine 
of  a  gross  and  corporal  manner  is  not  Catholic  ^. 

But  light,  wheresoever,  to  my  remembrance,  it  is  found  in 
any  place  of  Scripture,  and  transferred  from  the  natural  to 
a  figurative  sense,  it  takes  a  higher  signification  than  that. 
Either  it  signifies  the  essential  Light,  which  is  Christ ;  or  it 
signifies  the  supernatural  light  of  faith  and  grace,  which  is 
the  working  of  Christ  upon  them  and  their  lives  that  believe 
in  Him ;  and  it  is  the  principal  scope  of  the  Evangelist  in 
this  place.  Other  lights  there  be,  whereof  we  may  make  our 
use,  but  they  are  still  to  be  taken  in  and  applied  chiefly  to 
this ;  without  which  the  more  lights  there  are,  the  more 
shadows  also  will  be  cast  by  them  all. 

Look  we  now  upon  our  own  light,  the  light  of  nature  and 
reason.  In  all  philosophy  there  is  not  so  dark  a  thing  as 
light.  As  the  sun,  which  is /on*  lucis  naturalis,  the  fountain 
of  this  natural  light,  is  the  most  evident  thing  to  be  seen 
and  yet  the  hardest  to  be  looked  upon,  so  is  this  natural 
light  we  now  see,  to  our  reason  and  understanding. 

Nothing  clearer  to  sense,  for  we  see  through  it,  and  see  all 
things  by  it ;  and  yet  nothing  so  dark  to  us  when  we  come 
to  reason  and  discourse  about  it,  it  is  enwrapped  in  so  mauy 
scruples.  Nothing  nearer  to  our  sight,  for  it  is  round  about 
us ;  and  yet  nothing  more  remote  from  our  knowledge,  for 
we  know  neither  entrance  nor  limits  of  it.  Nothing  more 
easy  to  be  discerned,  for  every  child  can  do  it;  and  yet 
nothing  more  hard  to  be  comprehended,  for  no  man  under- 
stands it.  It  is  the  most  apprehensible  by  sense,  and  the 
least  comprehensible  by  reason;  if  we  wink,  we  cauuot 
choose  but  see  it ;  if  we  stare,  we  know  it  never  the  better. 
For  no  man  is  yet  got  so  near  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
qualities  of  light,  as  to  know  whether  light  itself  be  a  quality 
or  a  substance. 

If  then  this  natural  light  be  so  dark  to  our  natural  reason, 

''  See  Cosin's  Historia  Transubstan-  edit.  1675,  where  he  establishes  tliis 
tiaiionis  Papalis,  cap.  v.  §  20.  p.  75.      assertion. 


284  Christian  faith  consistent  with  reason. 

SERM.  how  shall  we  hope  to  comprehend  the  supernatural  light  of 

this  text,  if  we  set  our  natural  reason  only  to  search  into  it, 

and  pierce  further  to  know  it  than  the  Scripture  hath  made 
it  known  and  revealed  it  to  us  ? 

Among  the  ancients  ^  they  had  a  precious  composition  for 
their  lamps,  which  kept  light  in  their  sepulchres  as  long  as 
they  were  kept  in  there,  for  many  hundred  years  together ; 
and  yet  as  soon  as  these  lights  of  theirs  within  the  close 
vaults  were  at  any  time  discovered  and  brought  forth  into 
this  light  of  ours  within  the  open  air,  they  presently  vanished 
and  came  to  nothing.  It  proves  to  be  alike  with  this  light 
of  the  text,  the  eternal  light  of  Christ's  Deity  and  His  person, 
and  the  supernatural  light  of  His  faith  and  religion.  If  we 
keep  them  in  their  right  sphere  and  hold  them  in  their 
proper  place,  as  they  are  contained  and  revealed  to  us  in  the 
Scriptures,  they  will  enlighten  and  warm  and  purify  us,  as 
those  fires  and  lights  of  old  did  their  sepulchres  j  but  when 
we  bring  this  light  out  to  the  common  light  of  natural 
reason,  to  our  inferences  and  deductions,  to  our  scruples  and 
exceptions  that  we  usually  make  there,  it  may  be  in  danger 
both  to  vanish  itself,  and  perchance  to  extinguish  our  reason 
besides.  For  men  may  search  so  far  and  reason  so  long  of 
these  matters,  as  that  they  may  not  only  lose  them,  but 
even  lose  themselves  and  all,  and  so  believe  nothing. 

Not,  yet,  that  we  are  bound  to  believe  any  thing  against 
our  reason,  that  is,  to  believe  we  know  not  why.  It  is  but 
a  slack  opinion,  it  is  but  a  rash  assent,  it  is  not  belief,  that 
is  not  grounded  upon  right  reason. 

He  that  should  come  to  an  infidel,  a  carnal,  a  mere  natu- 
ral man,  whom  we  presume  to  be  endowed  with  the  light 
of  reason,  and  should  at  first,  without  any  other  prepara- 
tion, present  that  man  with  this  kind  of  necessity  in  believ- 
ing,—  'Thou  shalt  burn  in  fire  and  brimstone  eternally, 
except  thou  believe  a  Trinity  of  Persons,  without  any  more 
ado ;  and  except  thou  believe  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of 
God  to  be  of  the  second  Person  in  that  Trinity,  and  except 
thou  believe  that  a  Virgin,  a  blessed  Virgin,  had  a  Son,  and 
the  same  Son  that  God  had,  God  and  man  in  one  Person, 

*  See  Octavii  Ferrarii  dissertatio  de  Grsevii  Thesaur.  Antiq.  Roman.,  torn, 
veterum    lucernis    sepulchralibus,    in      xii.  p.  997. 


Progressive  argument  for  Chrisitianity.  285 

and  that  this  one  Person,  being  an  immortal  God,  was  after- 
wards put  to  death  upon  a  cross;'  this  were  somewhat  an 
unreasonable  proceeding  with  that  natural  and  reasonable 
man ;  though  it  would  not  be  so  with  us,  who  are  already 
baptized,  instructed,  and  believe  the  Scriptures  to  be  the 
revealed  word  of  God. 

But  for  him  that  neither  believes,  nor  ever  heard  of  them 
before,  so  far  would  it  be  from  working  any  spiritual  cure 
upon  him,  that  by  such  a  course  as  this,  the  mysteries  of 
Christ  would  be  sooner  brought  into  a  contempt  than  into 
a  belief  with  him.  For  that  man,  if  any  other  should  pro- 
ceed so  with  him,  *  Believe  all  we  say  or  you  burn  in  hell,' 
would  find  an  easy  way  to  answer  and  escape  all ;  that  is, 
first,  not  to  believe  hell  itself,  and  then  to  say  that  nothing 
could  bind  him  to  believe  all  the  rest. 

Therefore  with  a  natural  man,  if  he  had  but  reason,  I 
would  begin  higher.  For  we  yield  it  that  reason  must  be 
satisfied,  and  for  all  our  divinity  we  maintain  it  that  reason 
may  be  satisfied  by  taking  this  way  with  it  which  I  touched 
upon  the  last  time. 

First,  that  this  world,  the  greater  and  the  lesser  world, 
frames  of  so  much  harmony  and  so  much  subordination  in 
the  parts  of  them  both,  must  necessarily  have  had  a  work- 
man to  make  them  both;  for  nothing  can  make  itself,  as 
reason  itself  will  conceive. 

Then,  that  no  such  workman  would  deliver  over  a  frame 
and  work  of  so  much  majesty  to  be  left  to  fortune,  or  carried 
casually  at  adventure,  without  any  care  or  providence  to 
govern  it;  but  that  He  would  still  retain  the  sovereign  ad- 
ministration of  it  in  His  own  hands ;  for  this  is  reason  too. 

Next,  that  if  He  does  so,  if  He  made  us  and  not  we  our- 
selves, if  He  sustains  us  and  not  we  ourselves,  that  then  cer- 
tainly there  ought  some  service  and  worship  to  be  done  Him 
for  doing  so;  and  not  that  men  should  all  serve  themselves 
and  do  what  they  list,  but  that  they  should  follow  His  will 
and  pleasure  in  all  things.  Who  was  their  Creator,  and  is 
their  King ;  for  this  is  but  reason  still. 

Then,  that  if  there  be  such  a  service  to  be  done  Him  ac- 
cording to  His  will,  that  will  of  His  must  be  manifest  and 
made  known,  what  it  is,  and  what  manner  of  service  and 


286  Conclusion  of  the  argument, 

SEEM,  religion  will  be  acceptable  to  Him,  or  otherwise  we  had  as 

'      good  let  Him  have  none  at  all ;  for  this  likewise  our  reason 

will  suggest  to  us. 

And  lastly,  that  this  manifestation  of  His  will  must  be 
permanent,  as  all  wills  and  all  laws  are,  is  but  reasonable; 
and  to  make  them  so  permanent  and  durable  that  they  must 
be  written  and  put  upon  record,  is  but  reason  neither; 
which  record  either  this  Scripture  is,  or  none  is,  and  then  are 
all  the  former  reasons  gone.  For  let  all  the  world  shew  such 
another,  of  so  much  evidence  and  majesty,  so  much  consent 
and  harmony,  so  many  prophecies  foretold,  so  many  fulfilled 
in  it ;  the  promise  and  prophecy  of  this  day  above  them  all, 
the  miracles  to  assert  it,  the  long  continuance  to  confirm  it, 
and  many  other  such  evidences  as  we  can  produce  for  it 
besides ; — all  which  if  they  make  not  up  such  an  arithmetical, 
such  a  forcible  argument  as  will  tie  up  our  reason  in  a  pin- 
fold, and  make  it  assent  whether  it  will  or  no,  as  all  demon- 
strative arguments  do,  (for  which  the  will  shall  never  be  re- 
warded,) yet  such  a  logical,  such  a  rational  and  persuasive 
argument  they  will  make  up,  as  that  no  reasonable  man  shall 
be  able,  with  true  reason,  to  withstand  it.  And  then  will 
the  conclusion  of  all  be,  that  therefore  from  this  light  of 
Scripture,  which  is  the  word  and  will  of  God,  all  the  rules 
of  our  life  and  all  the  articles  of  our  belief  must  of  reason  be 
drawn ;  and  that  light  of  reason  will  bring  the  natural  man 
to  the  light  of  this  text,  that  is,  both  to  believe  it,  and  to 
know  upon  what  grounds  and  why  he  does  believe  it,  and 
all  that  has  been  said  of  it. 

For  let  no  man  think  that  God  hath  given  him  so  much 
ease  here  as  to  enlighten  him,  or  to  save  him,  by  believing 
he  knows  not  what  or  why.  Indeed  knowledge  will  not  save 
us,  but  yet  without  knowledge  we  are  never  like  to  be  saved. 
It  is  the  light  of  faith  that  shews  the  right  way  to  be  saved; 
but  in  that  way  faith  is  not  on  this  side  knowledge,  but 
beyond  it,  and  we  must  necessarily  come  to  the  light  of 
knowledge  and  reason  first;  though  when  we  are  come 
thither  we  must  not  stay  in  it,  but  make  use  of  it  to  lead 
us  to  a  better  and  a  higher  light  than  it. 

For  a  regenerate  man  (and  it  is  the  mystery  and  the 
Collect  of  this  day  that  puts  us  in  mind  of  a  regenerate 


True  use  of  reason  in  matters  of  faith.  287 

man  "*,)  a  regenerate  man  advanceth  his  reason ;  and  being 
now  made  a  new  creature,  hath  also  a  new  faculty  and  a  new 
light  of  reason  given  him,  whereby  he  believeth  the  mysteries 
of  religion  out  of  another  reason  than  as  a  mere  natural  man 
he  believed  natural  and  moral  things  before.  For  he  believes 
them  now  for  their  own  light,  the  light  of  faith;  though  he 
took  knowledge  of  them  before  by  another  light,  the  light  of 
common  reason,  and  by  those  human  arguments  which  work 
upon  other  men,  if  they  wilfully  put  not  out  their  own  light. 
As  for  instance,  divers  and  sundry  men  walk  by  the  sea  side ; 
and  the  same  beams  of  the  sun  giving  light  to  them  all,  one 
by  the  benefit  of  that  light  gathers  up  little  light  pebbles, 
and  shells  that  are  finely  speckled,  for  their  pleasure,  for  their 
vanity :  and  another  by  the  same  light  seeks  after  the  pre- 
cious pearl  and  the  amber,  for  a  more  noble  use.  So  in  the 
common  light  of  reason,  which  is  a  beam  that  flows  from 
this  light  of  the  text  too,  all  men  walk  amongst  us ;  but  one 
employs  this  light  upon  the  searching  after  impertinent 
vanities;  another,  by  a  better  use  of  the  same  light,  finds 
out  the  mysteries  of  religion,  and  falls  in  love  with  them 
both  for  their  own  worth's  sake,  and  for  the  helps  that  they 
give  him  towards  the  leading  of  a  righteous,  a  noble,  and 
a  true  Christian  life. 

So  some  men  by  the  benefit  of  the  light  of  nature  have 
found  out  things  profitable  and  useful  for  all  men.  Others 
have  made  use  of  that  light  to  search  and  find  out  all  the 
secret  corners  of  pleasure  and  gain  to  themselves.  They  have 
found  wherein  the  force  and  weakness  of  another  consisteth, 
and  made  their  advantage  of  him  by  circumventing  him  in 
them  both.  They  have  found  his  natural  (I  had  better  call 
it  his  unnatural,)  humour,  to  neglect,  and  to  contemn,  or  to 
forsake  religion ;  and  they  have  fed  and  fomented  that  dis- 
order in  him  for  their  own  ends.  They  have  found  all  his 
inclinations  to  liberty  and  pleasure,  to  wantonness  and  vanity; 
and  they  have  kept  open  that  leak  to  his  ruin. 

All  the  ways  both  of  worldly  wisdom  and  of  natural  craft 
lay  open  to  this  light,  but  when  they  have  gone  all  these 
ways  and  searched  into  all  these  corners,  they  have  got  no 

"  •  Almighty  God  ....  grant  that  children  by  adoption  and  grace  .  .  .  .' 
we  being  regenerate,  and   made  Thy      Collect  lor  Christmas  day. 


288  Application  of  the  argument. 

s  E  R  M.  further  all  this  while  than  to  a  walk  by  a  tempestuous  sea 

'■ —  side,  and  there  gathered  up  a  few  cockle-shells  of  vanity,  or 

other  pedliug  pebbles,  that  are  of  no  greater  use  than  to  play 
withal,  or  to  do  mischief  with  them  when  they  have  them. 

Or  take  another  similitude.  The  light  and  knowledge  of 
these  men  seem  to  be  great,  out  of  the  same  reason  that 
a  torch  in  a  misty  night  seems  to  be  greater  than  in  a  clear, 
because  it  hath  kindled  and  inflamed  much  thick  and  gross 
air  round  about  it.  For  the  light  and  knowledge  of  mere 
natural  and  carnal  men  seems  great,  not  because  it  is  so 
indeed,  but  because  it  kindles  an  admiration  in  some  other 
airy  persons  about  them,  that  are  not  so  crafty,  nor  so  busy, 
nor  so  knowing,  peradventure,  as  themselves  be. 

But  to  make  now  our  best  use  of  this  light,  the  light  of 
nature  and  reason.  If  we  can  take  this  light  of  reason  that  is 
in  us,  this  poor  snuff  of  light  that  is  almost  out  in  us,  that  is, 
our  faint  and  dim  knowledge  of  the  things  of  God,  which 
riseth  out  of  this  light  of  nature;  if  we  can  but  find  out  one 
small  coal  in  those  embers,  though  it  be  but  a  little  spark  of 
fire  left  among  those  cold  ashes  of  our  nature,  yet  if  we  will 
take  the  pains  to  kneel  down  and  blow  that  coal  with  our 
devout  and  humble  prayers,  we  shall  by  this  means  light  our- 
selves a  little  candle,  and  by  that  light  fall  to  reading  that 
book  which  we  call  the  history  of  the  Bible,  the  will  and  the 
word  of  God.  Then  if  with  that  candle  we  can  go  about 
and  search  for  Christ,  where  He  is  to  be  found,  in  all  the 
mysteries  of  His  religion,  in  His  humiliation  to-day,  begin 
there,  (for  this  day  brings  that  virtue  of  humility  into  credit, 

p.  270.  we  shall  not  find  that  virtue  in  all  Aristotle's  Ethics,  nor  in 
all  the  books  of  all  the  natural  philosophers  in  the  world, 
they  had  no  light  to  find  it  by,  but  begin  there ;)  and  if 
we  can  find  a  Saviour  there,  we  will  bless  God  for  this 
beginning,  it  is  the  best  sight  that  ever  we  saw  in  our  lives, 
and  concerns  us  most. 

Mat.  2. 14.  Then  if  we  can  find  Him  flying  into  Egypt,  and  find  our- 
selves in  a  disposition  to  follow  Him  and  to  keep  Him  com- 
pany in  a  persecution,  in  a  banishment ;  from  thence  to  His 
life  and  doctrine,  to  hear  Him  what  He  says  there;  from 
thence  to  His  cross  and  passion,  to  gather  up  some  drops  of 
His  blood  there;  from  thence  to  His  resurrection,  to  find 


Reason  to  be  subordinate  to  faith.  289 

the  virtue  and  effect  of  it  in  ours  here ;  and  from  thence  to 
His  ascension,  that  we  may  learn  the  way  after  Him  thither; 
all  this  will  bring  us  to  the  light  of  this  text  and  to  the  love 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  that  love  to  a  belief  of  the  truth  of 
them  all,  and  that  historical  belief  to  a  belief  of  application, 
that  as  all  these  things  were  certainly  done,  so  they  were  as 
certainly  all  done  for  us. 

And  thus  one  light  directs  us  to  another.  And  as  by  the 
quantity  in  the  light  of  the  moon,  we  know  the  position  and 
distance  of  the  sun,  how  far  or  how  near  the  sun  is  to  her ; 
80  by  the  working  of  the  light  of  nature  and  reason  in  us,  we 
may  discern  how  near  to  the  other  greater  light,  the  light  of 
faith  in  Christ,  we  stand. 

If  we  find  our  natural  faculties  rectified,  so  as  that  that 
understanding  and  reason,  which  we  have  in  moral  and  civil 
actions,  be  bent  likewise  upon  the  practice  and  exaltation  of 
Christian  and  religious  actions,  we  may  be  sure  this  other 
greater  light  is  about  us.  But  if  we  be  cold  in  them,  in 
actuating,  in  exalting,  in  using  our  natural  faculties  and 
light  to  the  end,  we  shall  be  in  danger  to  be  deprived  of  all 
light,  we  shall  not  see  the  invisible  God  in  visible  things, 
(which  St.  Paul  makes  so  inexcusable,  so  unpardonable  a  Rom.  i. 
sin,)  we  shall  not  see  the  light  of  God  that  shined  upon  us  ' 
this  day,  nor  the  mind  of  God  that  was  declared  to  us  in 
this  Gospel ;  we  shall  not  see  the  hand  of  God  in  all  our 
worldly  crosses,  nor  the  seal  of  God  in  any  spiritual  bless- 
ing or  promise  whatsoever.  But  the  light  of  faith  bears  me 
witness  that  I  see  all  this. 

To  conclude :  the  light  of  nature,  in  the  highest  exaltation 
of  it,  is  not  the  light  of  faith ;  but  yet  if  there  be  that  use 
made  of  it  that  there  should  be,  it  will  make  somewhat 
towards  it.  Faith  and  nature  are  subordinate,  and  the  one 
rules  the  other.  The  light  of  faith  bears  me  witness  that  I 
have  Christ  with  all  the  benefit  of  His  incarnation  j  and  the 
light  of  natural  reason  exalted  to  religious  uses,  bears  me 
witness  that  I  have  faith  whereby  I  apprehend  Him.  Only 
that  man  whose  conscience  testifies  to  himself,  and  whose 
actions  testify  to  the  world,  that  he  does  what  he  can  to 
follow  the  true  light  of  this  text,  and  all  the  rules  of  reli- 
gion, aud  them  only,  which  that  Light  set  forth  and  revealed 

COSIN.  TT 


290  Exaltation  of  the  light  of  faith. 

SEEM,  in  His  own  word,  that  man  only  can  believe  himself,  or  be 

XX 

'■ —  believed  by  others,  that  he  hath  the  true  light  of  faith  and 

religion  in  him. 

And  when  he  is  come  once  into  this  light,  he  shall  never 
envy  the  lustre  and  glory  of  any  other  blazing  lights  of  the 
world,  that  anywhere  set  up  themselves  to  put  out  this ;  but 
when  their  light  shall  turn  to  darkness,  his  shall  grow  up 
from  a  fair  hope  to  a  full  assurance  that  it  shall  never  go  out, 
and  that  neither  the  works  of  darkness,  nor  the  prince  and 
power  of  darkness,  shall  ever  prevail  against  it ;  but  as  the 
light  of  reason  is  exalted  to  the  light  of  faith  here,  so  the 
light  of  faith  shall  be  exalted  unto  the  light  of  glory  here- 
after. Whereof  this  blessed  Sacrament  will  be  a  true  and  a 
lively  pledge,  if  it  be  received  with  a  true  and  a  lively  faith, 
as  I  trust  it  has  been  by  many  of  us  already,  and  shall  be 
now  again  in  the  sight  of  God  and  the  presence  of  us  all  by 
him,  upon  whom,  next  under  God,  we  all  still  depend  for  the 
preserving  of  this  true  light,  and  the  upholding  of  Christ's 
true  religion  among  us. 

I  should  now  go  on  to  present  you  with  those  many  and 
sundry  lights  of  the  world  that  I  proposed  at  first,  either 
»  appiica-  appliable  ^  or  opposed  to  the  light  of  this  text.  But  I  have 
set  forth  that  which  belongs  most  properly  to  this  day ;  and 
having  already  filled  up  the  portion  of  the  day  which  is  af- 
forded for  this  sermon,  I  shall  reserve  the  rest  for  another. 

To  God  Almighty,  the  Father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  be  all  honour  and  glory,  now  and  for  evermore. 
Amen. 


SERMON   XXI. 


PARIS,  JAN.  5, 1G53,  [new  style.] 
DOMINICA  SECUNDA  TOST  NATIVITATEM  DOMINI. 

St.  Matthew  ii.  [1.  and]  2. 

Veneruni  magi  ....  dicentes,  ....  Vidimus  enim  stellam 
Ejus  in  oriente. 

There  came  wise  men  ....  and  said,  ....  For  we  have  seen 
His  star  in  the  east. 

This  text  will  be  part  of  the  Gospel  which  is  appointed  to 
be  read  in  the  Church  to-morrow  %  and  to-morrow  will  be 
the  last  day  of  the  twelve  which  are  appointed  to  wait  upon 
the  feast  of  Christ's  blessed  Nativity.  The  last  day  of  the 
feast,  and,  as  St.  John  said  of  another,  the  last  and  the  Job.  7. 37. 
greatest  day  of  the  feast  to  us ;  for  by  this  last  day  we  come 
to  have  an  interest  in  the  first,  and  by  the  light  of  this  star 
to  find  out  our  right  way  to  Christ. 

I  shall  therefore  take  the  opportunity  of  our  meeting  here 
together  to-day,  (which  of  all  the  twelve  is  the  nearest  to  the 
last,)  to  look  upon  those  persons  that  looked  upon  this  star, 
and  to  take  our  text  out  of  that  Gospel  which  belongs  to  the 
day  of  Christ's  Epiphany,  the  rather  because  this  present 
Sunday  (as  by  the  course  of  our  calendar  it  now  falls  out), 
hath  no  other  proper  Gospel  of  its  own  assigned  to  it  ^. 

"  Namely,  upon  the  Epiphany.  Sunday   between    Christmas   day  and 

^  Provision   is   made   for  only  one      the  Sunday  after  the  Epiphany. 

u2 


292  Division  of  the  subject. 

SEEM,       From  this  appearing  of  the  star  we  call  it  the  Epiphany; 
and  when  we  call  it  so  we  speak  Greek,  for  Epiphany  is 


^^^'  ■  neither  English  nor  Latin,  but  a  word  borrowed  from  the 
Eastern  Fathers,  which  in  their  language  signifies  a  mani- 
festation, or  the  shining  out  of  somewhat  from  above.  From 
whence  God  let  this  star  appear  in  heaven,  thereby  to  mani- 
fest Christ  to  the  Gentiles  here  on  earth,  and  so  to  us. 

And  because  there  were  more  Epiphanies  of  Him  than  one, 
the  Epiphany  of  the  Dove  and  the  Voice  from  above,  in  the 

Mat.  3. 17.  next  chapter  hereafter,  as  well  as  the  Epiphany  of  the  light, 
and  the  star  from  above,  in  this;  therefore  will  you  have 

Lu.  3. 1—  to-morrow  the  lesson  at  His  baptism  for  the  one,  as  you  have 
the  Gospel  at  the  sight  of  this  His  star,  for  the  other. 

See  p.  2.  And  though  many  other  Epiphanies,  or  manifestations,  of 
Him  there  were  besides  these  which  are  remembered  in  the 
Church  service  all  the  Sundays  following,  yet  this  here  hath 
carried  that  name  from  them  all,  both  because  it  was  the  first 
of  them  all,  and  because  it  was  one  that  did  manifest  as 
much  of  Him  as  all  the  rest  did,  that  is,  the  divinity  and  the 
greatness  of  Christ  there  above,  as  well  as  the  humanity  and 
the  humiUty  of  Christ  here  below. 

Is.  7. 11.  The  prophet  Isaiah  promised  us  that  we  should  have  two 
signs,  one  from  the  depth  here  beneath,  and  another  from 

Is.  7. 12.  the  height  above ;  and  though  Ahaz,  and  such  as  he  is,  re- 
garded neither,  yet  God  gave  them  both  ;  and  those  that  are 
wise,  wise  as  these  men  were,  will  look  either  way,  and  regard 
them  both  (both  the  shepherds'  sign  and  the  wise  men's 
sign),  of  which  two  as  we  have  hitherto  looked  upon  the  one, 
so  are  we  now  come  to  take  a  view  of  the  other,  and  to  lift 
amanger:  up  our  eyes  from  the  humility  of  the  cratch  ^  to  the  sublim- 

ner.  ity  of  the  star.    Vidimus  enim  stellam  Ejus  in  oriente,  '  for  we 

have  seen  His  star  in  the  east,'  where  for  the  better  method 
of  the  sermon,  we  shall  observe  these  parts  of  the  text. 

(I.)  The  persons  that  saw  this  sight,  who  they  were,  and 
what  manner  of  persons  they  sustain. 

(II.)  Then  the  sight  itself,  or  the  star  that  they  saw,  what 
manner  of  star  it  was. 

(III.)  And  thirdly,  the  place  in  which  this  star  first  ap- 
peared to  them,  whereof  they  say,  vidimus  in  oriente,  that 
they  saw  it  in  the  east. 


Uncertainty  respecting  the  magi.  293 

In  which  three,  if  we  meddle  not  in  the  pulpit  with  these 
things  which  we  meet  withal  in  the  schools,  Multa  quce  sunt 
erudit(B  guastionis,  yet  there  are  many  things  in  them  to 
be  enquired  after  by  us,  which  peradveuture  we  knew  not 
before. 

The  sum  and  application  of  all  will  be,  that  as  these  wise 
men  did,  so  we  also  may  look  out  to  see  if  we  can  set  .our 
eyes  upon  this  star,  and  then  to  guide  our  course  by  it  how 
we  are  to  go  to  seek,  and  to  find,  and  to  worship  Christ,  as 
they  also  did  before  us. 

Of  which  that  we  may  speak,  &c. 

Pater  Noster,  8fC. 

'  For  we  have  seen  His  star  in  the  east.' 

The  matter  of  this  text  is  the  manifestation  of  our  Saviour  J 
and  the  manner  of  it  is  by  a  sign  from  heaven.  A  sign  that 
was  presented  to  certain  persons  of  the  East,  with  whom,  as 
they  stand  here  first,  so  are  we  now  first  to  begin,  and  to 
enquire  what  manner  of  men,  or  what  conditioned  persons 
they  were,  that  Christ  should  here  first  choose  them  out  of 
all  other  men  abroad  in  the  world  besides,  to  reveal  and 
manifest  Himself  unto  them. 

The  legends  and  uncertain  stories  of  them,  wherewith  the 
vanities  of  former  times  were  wont  to  entertain  the  people 
in  their  sermons  at  this  season,  have  abused  the  patience 
and  credulity  of  the  world  too  much  already  when  they 
could  precisely  reckon  up  their  number,  and  tell  every  one 
of  their  names,  and  call  that  man  an  heretic  that  would 
not  believe  them  to  be  the  *  three  kings  of  Colen.* 

And  because  there  are  many  now  about  us  that  are  ready 
to  say  as  much  still,  and  to  believe  that  tradition  themselves 
no  less  than  we  believe  this  Gospel,  if  it  might  not  be  thought 
so  much  time  and  so  many  words  lost,  I  would  tell  you  how 
that  legend  hath  been  made  up  among  them. 

(1.)  And  first,  for  their  number;  there  is  an  imperfect 
author,  whom   they  have  printed  under  St.  Chrysostom's  ** 

'  Itaque   elegerunt  seipsos   duode-  S.  Matth.  inter  0pp.  S.Chrysost.,  torn, 

cim   quidam   ex   ipsis  studiosiores  et  vi.  Append,  p.  xxviii.  edit.  Par.  1724. 

amatores   mysteriorum    coelestium,  et  See  also  Salmeron,  Hist.  Evang,,  torn, 

posuerunt   seipsos   ad   exspectationem  iii.  p.  342.  edit  Colonise,  1612. 
Stellas   illius,  &c.| —  Opus   luiperf.  in 


294  Uncertainty  respecting  their  number, 

SEEM,  name,  (but  it  is  none  of  his^,  nor  nothing  like  him,)  who 

•V'-y'T 

'- —  delivers  it  for  a  tradition  in  his  time,  though  no  man  can 

CaYe,  i.      yet  tell  whenever  that  time  was,  that  they  were  twelve  in 
312.  316.     number,  and  neither  more  nor  less,  to  wait  upon  Christ's 
person,  than  there  are  now  days  to  wait  upon  His  nativity. 
But  to  this  tradition  they  hold  not. 

There  was  a  pope  '^  not  long  after  that,  as  they  say,  knew 
more  of  it  than  St.Chrysostom  ever  did,  and  he  reduced 
them  to  the  number  of  three,  having  no  other  reason  so  to 
do  but  only  because  they  brought  no  more  than  three  offer- 
ings to  Christ  with  them ;  whereof  he  thought  fit  to  as- 
sign every  man  one.  And  to  this  tradition  they  hold  them 
now%  saying,  many  of  them,  that  it  is  a  general  tradition 
of  the  Universal  Church ;  though  in  the  meanwhile  there 
was  never  yet  any  Church  (and  there  are  Churches  of  far 
greater  extent  than  theirs  is)  that  either  held  it,  or  so  much 
as  ever  heard  of  it,  but  their  own. 

And  yet  if  they  would  not  obtrude  this,  or  other  such  of 
their  own  traditions  (as  they  have  done  of  late)  upon  all 
other  persons  whatsoever,  it  were  no  great  matter  if  (in  such 
an  indifferent  and  inconsiderable  matter  as  this  is),  we  suf- 
fered them  to  go  alone  by  themselves  and  enjoy  their  own 
private  opinion;  but  the  reason  that  they  give  of  it  is  not 
^  worth  the  owning,  as  if  every  one  of  these  men  came  to 
offer  a  several  gift',  one  to  acknowledge  Christ's  royalty, 
another  His  divinity,  and  the  third  His  humanity  ^ ;   for  he 

^  Sequuntur  tres  viri  superni  luminis  neribus    et    tribus    personis,    singulis 

ductum. — S.Leonis  deEpiph.  Domini,  singula  munera  offerentibus. — Suarez 

Serm.  1.  §  2.    Quod  utique  exinde  fieri  in  3  part.  S.  Thomse,  torn.  ii.  p.  147. 

noviraus,  ex  quo  tres  magos,  de  longin-  £  Per  auruni  rex  ostenditur  ;  in  thure 

quitate  suae  regionis  excitatos,  ad  cog-  Deus  dignoscitur;  permyrrham  homo 

noscendum  et  adorandum  regem  coeli  passus    atque    sepultus. —  B.  Alcuini 

perduxit. — Serm.  iii.§  4.  See  also  Serm.  Opera,  torn.  ii.  p.  462.  edit.  1777.     Si 

iv.  §2,  Serm.v.  §1,  &e.  in  Bibl.  Patr.,  autem  soUicito  intellectu  velimus  as- 

tom.  V.  p.  2.  p.  812,  &c.  edit.  1618.  picere,    quomodo    etiam    triplex    ilia 

*  Dicendum    vero    est    primo,  tres  species  munerum  ab  omnibus,  qui  ad 

tantum  numero  fuisse.     Haec  est  com-  Christum  gressu  fidei  veniunt,  oflera- 

munis    sententia   sanctorum. — Suarez  tur;   nonne  in  cordibus  recte  creden- 

in  3  part.  S.  Thomas,  torn.  ii.  p.  147.  tium  eadem  celebratur  oblatio  ?     Au- 

edit.  1616.  rum  enim  de  thesauro  animi  sui  pro- 

'  So  Maldonat,  Fuisse  autem  tres,  mit  qui  Christum  regem  universitatis 

etsi  non   certa,   tamen  probabili  con-  agnoscit.      Myrrham    ofFert,   qui    uni- 

jectura  ex   donorum   numero  colligi-  genitum  Dei  credit  veram  sibi  homi- 

tur.      Credibilius    est    enim    diversa  nis  uniisse  naturam.     Et  quodam  eum 

quam  eadem  omnes  munera  dedisse.  thure  venerantur,  qui  in  nullo  ipsuni 

See  his   note,  ad  loc,     Significatum  paternse  majestati  imparem  confitetur. 

est  Trinitatis  mysterium  in  tribus  mu-  — S.Leonis,  Serm.  vi.  de  Epiph.  Dom. 


their  names,  and  their  condition. 


295 


was  a  better  Christian  that  said,  Non  singuli  singula,  sed 
singuli  tria  obtulerunt^.  He  that  does  not  himself  alone 
acknowledge  all  these  three  together  in  Christ,  (as  your 
Majesty  does  when  you  come  upon  that  day  to  oflFer,)  comes 
not  to  Christ  as  these  men  did,  but  keeps  from  Him  one  of 
his  oblations,  one  of  his  due  recognitions;  either  his  gold, 
or  his  frankincense,  or  his  myrrh  is  wanting. 

(2.)  Secondly,  for  their  names.  There  was  one  Peter 
Comestor^  that  furnished  their  legend  with  no  less  than 
nine  of  them  together,  three  in  Hebrew,  and  three  in  Greek, 
and  three  in  Latin  ;  and  all  of  his  own  making,  for  he  lived  A-  ao- 
not  in  the  world,  and  was  not  born  till  they  had  been  above  u.  239.  ' 
a  thousand  years  dead  in  their  graves,  and  he  had  never  an 
author  of  whom  to  learn  any  of  those  names  but  himself 
alone.  Upon  whose  credit  some  other  men  took  them  after- 
wards up,  and  made  use  of  them  for  their  several  purposes. 
Whereof  in  Philip  Melancthon's  and  Luther's  time  (for  so 
they  say  themselves)  their  using  of  those  names  for  certain 
spells  that  they  had  in  those  days,  was  one ''. 


§  I.  Bibl.  Patr.,  torn.  v.  p.  2.  p.  817. 
edit.  1618.  See  also  Tostatus  in  cap. 
ii.  Mat.  quaest.  46.  0pp.  i.  215.  edit. 
Venet.  1615,  et  Ludolph.  de  Saxonia 
de  Vita  Cbristi,  sig.  d.  iiij,  edit.  Lugd. 
1516. 

''  Unusquisque  autem  eorum  prae- 
dicta  tria  obtulit,  quia,  ut  dictum  est, 
mysterio  congruit.  NuUus  enim  vere 
Christianus  dlcitur  qui  non  Christum 
et  Deum  et  regem  et  passum  confi- 
teatur,  quod  illis  tribus  muneribus  gig- 
nificatur ;  unde  Remigius,  Isti  magi 
non  singuli  singula  obtulerunt,  sed 
singula  tria.  —  Ludolph.  de  Saxonia 
de  Vita  Christi,  sig.  d.  iiij. 

Quaeritur  an  singuli  singula,  an 
unusquisque  tria  obtulerit.  Sed  magis 
fatendum  est  quod  congiuit  mysterio, 
scilicet,  quod  singuli  tria.  Unusquis- 
que enim  regem  et  Deum  et  passibilem 
Eum  credebat. — S.  Anselmi  0pp.,  tom. 
i.  p.  16.  edit.  1573. 

Ingressi  vero  magi  domum,  quam 
diversorium  Lucas  nominal,  obtulerunt 
puero  singuli  aurum,  thus  et  myrram, 
secundum  Sabaeis  consuetam  oblatio- 
nem.  —  Pet.  Comest.  Historia  Evan- 
gelica,  cap.  viii.  edit.  Argent.  1483. 

'  Nomina  trium  magorum  haec  sunt 
Hebraice,  Appellius,  Ametus,  Dama- 
sius ;     Grece,    Galgalath,    Magalath, 


Sarachim. — Pet.  Comett.  Hist.  Erang., 
cap.  viii.  edit.  1483.  Nato  enim  Do- 
mino, tres  magi  Iherosolimam  vene- 
runt,  quorum  nomina  in  Hebreo  sunt 
Appellius,  Mellius,  Damascus ;  Grece, 
Galgalath,  Malgalath,  Sarachim;  La- 
tine,  Jaspar,  Balthasar,  Melchior. — Le- 
genda  Sanctorum,  fol.  25.  edit.  Colon. 
1483. 

**  Et  ut  nihil  deesset  ad  impiam 
prophanationem,  mos  etiam  iste  vere 
magicus  inolevit,  ut  fictis  his  Caspari, 
Balthasaris  et  Melchioris  nominibus, 
cum  crucis  signo  ter  repetito  purae 
chartae  vel  pergamine  inscriptis  et  collo 
appensis,  quosvis  morbos,  scilicet,  de- 
pellant. — Hospin.  de  origine  festorum 
Christian.,  p.  45.  edit.  Gen.  1674.  But 
Cosin  need  not  have  gone  to  Germany 
for  an  illustration  of  this  superstition. 
There  is  (or  was)  in  the  vestry  of  St. 
Peter's  Mancroft,  in  his  native  city  of 
Norwich,  a  brass  plate  bearing  this  in- 
scription : — 

Jaspar  fert  myrrham,  thus  Melchior, 
Balthasar  aurum  ; 

Haec  tria  qui  secum  portabit  nomina 
regum 

Solvitur  a  morbo,  Christi  pietate, 
caduco. 
See  Bloomiield's  History  of  Norfolk, 
iv.  221,  8vo, 


296  Uncertainty  as  to  their  relics. 

SEEM.       (3.)  And  this  added  a  third  story  to  their  legend,  where, 
because  St.  Matthew  said  in  his  language  that  they  were  the 


magi,  the  common  people  were  made  to  believe,  in  their 
language,  that  they  were  all  magicians  ^ ;  as  good  a  reason, 
that,  as,  because  he  said  that  they  came  from  the  east,  there- 
fore that  they  were  all  Ethiopians,  or  those  whom  we  call  the 
black-moors  of  Africk,  which  is  full  south  from  Jerusalem. 

(4.)  But  whatsoever  their  names  or  their  country  were 
heretofore,  they  have  now,  in  a  manner,  lost  them  both,  and 
are  generally  (by  them  that  would  teach  us  all  how  to  speak) 
Cologne  called  the  three  kings  of  Colen^  a  town  here  hard  by  "* ;  not 
because  they  ever  lived  there,  but  only  because  they  are  said 
to  lie  there ;  or  else  they  are  much  mistaken  that  say  it,  for 
as  they  cannot  agree,  nor  tell  who  brought  them  thither,  so 
I  think  it  is  as  great  a  question  whether  they  be  there  at 
all,  when  at  Saragosa  in  Spain,  some  men  are  as  confident 
that  they  have  them  there  as  others  are  at  Colen  that  they 
lie  buried  (not  so,  neither,  but  that  they  are  all  put  up  in 
their  silver  shrines),  among  them.  I  doubt  it  is  too  true 
that  which  father  Latimer  said  once  of  them,  in  one  of  his 
sermons  upon  this  Epiphany  before  king  Edward;  that  there 
is  no  truth  in  any  of  these  stories  at  all  ^.  And  so  I  leave 
them  to  their  own  uncertainties,  that  we  may  enquire  after 
these  persons  here  at  a  far  better  oracle,  and  there  learn 
some  instructions  from  them. 

The  best  light  we  have  to  see  and  know  who  they  were  is 
in  the  Scriptures,  where  if  we  look  upon  them  as  they  are 
set  forth  in  this  chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  and  in  some  other 
places  that  were  written  and  prophesied  of  them  before,  we 
shall  find  that  they  sustain  the  nature  and  condition  of  four 
several  sorts  of  persons.  Whereof  the  first  is,  the  persons  of 
the  Gentiles  and  heathen  men;  for  they  were  men  of  the 
East,  and  at  that  door  come  we  all  in,  east,  and  west,  and 

'  See  Tostat.  in  cap,  ii.  Mat.  quaest.  confitetur. — P.  Canisii  Nota9  in  Evan- 

6,  Opp.  torn.  ii.  p.  183;    Suarez  in  3  gelicas   Lectiones,  p.  160.  edit.  Frib. 

part.  S.Thomse,  torn.  ii.  p.  147.  Helv.  1595. 

"  Quod  ad  sacra  eorum  corpora  per-  "  "But    how    these    men    came    to 

tinet,  hsec  a  Persia  Constantinopolim  Colen  in  Germany,  I  marvel  greatly; 

translata,  et  inde  Mediolanum  delata  I  think  it  is  but  the  fantasies  and  illu- 

fuisse  legimus,  quas  deinde  Frederico  sions   of  the  devil,   which    stirred  up 

imperatore,  ejus  nominis  primo,  Colo-  men    to   worship    stone    and    wood." 

niam  pervenerunt,  ubi  adhuc  ilia  reli-  — Latimer's   Sermons,  vol.  ii.  p.  353, 

giose  recondi  tota  Gcrmania  tot  seculis  edit.  1824;  see  also  p.  SG3. 


They  were  the  first-fruits  of  the  Gentiles.  297 

all.  as  St,  Paul  told  thera  at  Antioch,  at  the  door  of  hope  Acta  13. 

■    '  .  26 

which  God  had  set  open  to  the  Gentiles,  whereof  these  men 
were  the  first  that  ever  °  entered  in  at  that  door ;  and  when 
they  entered,  they  did  it  not  in  their  own  persons  alone,  but 
in  the  names  and  persons  of  us  all,  all  the  Gentiles  that 
should  come  after  thera,  to  whom  they  led  the  way  to  Christ, 
and  left  the  door  open  for  us  ever  since  ;  for  Christ  That  let 
them  in,  if  we  will  but  take  the  pains  to  seek  Him  and  to 
come  to  Him  as  they  did,  we  may  be  sure  will  never  shut  us 
out ;  but  as  by  them  He  hath  invited  us,  so  He  will  be 
ready  to  receive  us,  and  make  good  all  those  promises  which 
both  by  His  patriarchs  and  His  prophets  before,  and  by 
Himself  and  His  Apostles  after,  He  hath  published  to  all 
the  world.  For  so  He  did  when  He  said  first,  that  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  should  be  the  better  for  Him,  by  virtue  Ps.  72. 17. 
of  which  saying,  these  first-fruits  of  the  Gentiles  had  their  9*^,^0.  * 
interest  in  Him.  And  so  He  did  again  when  He  bid  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  come  to  Him  ;  by  virtue  of  which  say-  Ts.  m.  9. 
ing  likewise,  both  we  ourselves  and  all  other  people  besides,  ^'  "  '  *^' 
(all  that  do  not  either  sit  still  and  never  look  after  Him,  or 
do  not  go  the  wrong  way  to  Him,  when  they  seek  Him,)  all 
such  may  have  their  interest  also  in  Him  as  well  as  these 
men  here  had. 

(2.)  Secondly,  they  sustain  the  persons  of  great  and 
honourable  men.  For  so  much  we  have  of  them  in  this 
chapter,  whereby  we  may  fairly  and  clearly  collect  that  they 
were  men  of  some  higher  note  and  regard  than  other 
common  men  were.  And  the  prophecies  that  went  of  thera 
before  call  thera  no  less  than  kings  and  princes  ;  to-raorrow  is.  49.  7; 
you  shall  have  two  lessons  that  call  them  so,  more  than  once,  &c.  '  ' 
(five  or  six  times  together,)  besides  that  prophecy  in  the 
Psalms  which  hath  been  usually  applied  to  them  in  the  Ps.  72. 10, 
Church,  that  the  kings  of  the  isles  should  come  and  offer 
Him  presents,  the  kings  of  Arabia  and  Sheba  should  come 
and  fall  down  before  Him  with  their  gifts  p. 

"  Et  ideo  erant  magi  non  malefici,  p  See   Tertull.   adv.   Judaeos,    §    9. 

scd   sapientes;    primitiae  fidei  nostrae.  edit.  Gersdorf.  p.  4.  p.  311  ;  and  Suarez 

Ludolph.  de  Saxonia,  sig.  d.  ij.     The  in  3  part.  S.  Thoinae,  q.  36.  disp.  14.  § 

expression  is  borrowed  from   St.  Au-  2,  '  Quot  et  cujus  condilionis  viri  magi 

gustine,   0pp.  v.  637;   see  also   Bibl.  fuerint.' 
I'iitr.  V.  621 ;  S.  Clirysost.  iii.  396, 


11. 


298  If  not  kings,  they  were  of  high  rank, 

"seem.       Or  if  that  place  be  not  precisely  to  be  understood  of  them, 
'- —  but  rather  of  some  other  kings  and  princes  that  came  in 


long  after  them,  (for  if  they  were  kings,  they  must  be  kings 
of  some  parts  of  the  east,  from  whence  St,  Matthew  says  here 
they  came,  and  not  of  any  parts  of  the  south,  from  whence  it 
was  that  the  queen  of  Sheba  came,  whom  therefore  Christ 

Mat.  12.  Himself  calls  the  queen  of  the  south,)  and  yet  this  hinders 
not  but  that  Isaiah  prophesied  of  them,  as  well  as  David 
prophesied  of  others ;  and  so  they  might  be  kings  still. 

I  had  rather  it  should  be  so  than  otherwise ;  both  for  the 
honour  of  kings,  that  Christ  should  first  of  all  call  them  to 
Him  before  all  others;  and  for  the  honour  of  us  all,  that 
kings  should  be  our  first  leaders  to  Christ,  and  the  ante- 
signani,  the  standard-bearers  of  our  true  religion  towards 
Him.  He  that  hath  not  a  malignant  eye  to  one  of  these 
three,  either  to  Christ  Himself,  or  to  the  presents  that  are 
brought  Him,  or  to  them  that  bring  Him  the  presents,  will 
be  willing  enough  to  let  them  be  here,  as  Isaiah  called  them 
long  hefore,  to  let  them  be  kings. 

But  however  it  be,  surely  men  of  great  rank  and  con- 
dition they  were,  for  they  came  not  to  Jerusalem  here  as 
men  that  went  about  their  own  private  affairs,  and  nobody 
to  regard  or  look  after  them  when  they  came.  But  they 
made  their  entrance  into  the  city  after  a  public  and  a  so- 
lemn manner ;  they  are  ushered  in  by  a  star  from  heaven  ; 
they  come,  if  not  as  kings  themselves,  yet  as  the  ambassadors 
and  lieutenants  of  kings,  at  least.  And  they  come  from  the 
whole  body  of  the  Gentiles,  in  the  behalf  of  them  all,  to 
negotiate  with  the  new-born  King  about  their  peace  and 
alliance  with  Him  for  ever ;  a  matter  of  greater  state  and 
more  concernment  than  if  all  the  kings  and  princes  of 
the  earth  had  met  together  at  Jerusalem  about  their  own 
alliance  or  peace,  one  with  another.  Whereupon  the  whole 
city  takes  notice  of  them,  the  king  there,  and  the  people,  and 

ver.  3, 4.  all ;  and  so  great  an  embassy,  so  powerful  a  coming  it  was, 
that  they  were  all  amazed  and  ^troubled  at  it,  Herod  and  all 
Jerusalem  with  him.  Whether  it  was  their  great  number 
that  attended  them,  or  whether  it  was  their  great  treasures 
that  they  brought  with  them;  or  whether  it  was,  chiefly, 
their  business  and  their  errand  that  they  caused  to  be  pro- 


and  men  of  learning.  299 

claimed  and  published  before  them ;  or  all  these  together  ^ ; 
—  but  somewhat  it  was  that  rendered  them  such  persons,  as 
that  the  king  called  together  his  council  about  him  for  their 
better  reception  and  audience,  and  admitted  them  to  his 
own  private  conference  with  him  besides,  giving  them  their 
despatch  and  their  answer  (which  princes  use  not  often  to 
do,  but  to  persons  as  great  or  as  considerable  as  themselves), 
with  his  own  mouth.     So  great  persons  they  were. 

Now  from  the  greatness  of  their  persons  great  men  have 
their  lessons,  that  as  they  have  their  interest  in  Christ  as 
well  as  others,  so  it  is  their  duty  to  look  after  Him  no  less 
than  others  do  j  and  wherever  they  can  find  Ilim,  though  it 
be  in  His  great  humility,  in  His  cratch  or  in  His  cross,  the 
cratch  of  His  contempt,  or  the  cross  of  His  persecutions,  or 
in  any  condition  whatsoever,  yet  there  to  come  and  acknow- 
ledge Him,  and  with  all  their  greatness,  and  all  their  train, 
and  all  the  treasures  that  they  have,  to  fall  down  at  His  feet 
and  offer  their  service  to  Him ;  the  great  men  of  the  world 
110  less  than  the  meanest  shepherds  of  the  field  (of  whom  you 
heard  last  that  they  had  their  angel,  as  well  as  these  men  Lu.  2.  9. 
had  their  star),  to  bring  them  both  to  Christ.  For  as  He  is  Gal. 2.  6. 
no  accepter,  so  is  He  no  excepter  neither,  of  any  person 
whatsoever,  but  looks  for  the  same  fear,  and  the  same 
honour,  and  the  same  religion  from  them  all  alike. 

(3.)  Thirdly,  as  they  sustained  the  persons  of  great  and 
honourable  men,  so  did  they  the  persons  of  wise  and  learned 
men  besides,  which  was  the  title  (as  a  title  more  to  be  re- 
garded than  all  their  greatness),  that  St.  Matthew  here  gave 
them.  Though  in  calling  of  them  the  magi  of  the  East  he 
does  in  effect,  and  virtually,  call  them  the  princes  of  the 
East ;  for  magi,  though  it  be  a  word  now  indenizened  into 
the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues,  (wherein  commonly  the  masters 
of  those  tongues  that  use  that  word  have  no  very  good  mean- 
ing in  it  neither,  when  they  use  it  for  such  as  Simon  Magus, 
or  Elymas  the  sorcerer  was,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,)  yet 
originally  and  properly  the  word  belongs  to  neither  of  them 
both,  being  in  itself  (as  Herodotus '  that  knew  it  best,  has 

1  See  Tostat,  in  cap.  ii.  Matth.  q.  24.  '  Lib.  i.  §  140.  edit.  Wesseling.    See 

and   25,   where  he   enquires  into  the      also  Cicero  de  Divin.  i.  §  23. 
reasons  of  this  excitement. 


300  Knowledge  the  handmaiden  of  faith. 

s  E  R  M.  told  us),  a  Persian  word,  where  there  was  never  a  king  that 
had  not  this  name  of  Magus  given  to  him,  that  is,  a  man 


learned  and  wise  in  all  manner  of  natural  and  supernatural 
knowledge;  whereof  they  accounted  their  knowledge  in 
astrology,  or  their  study  of  the  stars,  to  be  chief.  And  in 
that  sense  was  it  given  to  these  men  here;  for  from  that 
place  they  came.  In  other  places  and  in  after  times  it  came 
to  be  a  word  corrupted  and  to  degenerate  into  a  bad  sense ; 
but  here  it  held  in  a  good. 

And  a  good  use  may  be]  made  of  it ;  that  as  Moses  was 
never  the  worse  for  being  brought  up  and  learned  in  all  the 

Acts?.  22.  wisdom  and  learning  of  Egypt,  so  shall  neither  any  greatness 
of  place,  nor  any  greatness  of  knowledge,  nor  any  height  of 
wisdom  and  learning  whatsoever  (if  it  be  rightly  ordered), 
make  any  persons  the  more  unfit  for  their  coming  to  Christ, 
or  keep  them  at  all  the  farther  off  from  Him,  Whose  super- 
natural and  divine  knowledge  may  well  make  the  other 
subservient  to  it,  but  destroys  it  never. 

(4.)  Lastly  then,  they  sustain  the  persons  of  faithful  and 
religious  men,  without  which  all  the  greatness  and  all  the 
wisdom  or  learning  of  the  world  besides  will  do  us  no  good. 
The  star  that  was  in  heaven  set  fire  upon  another  star  that 

2Pet.i.l9.  was  in  their  hearts,  which  St. Peter  calls  the  star  of  faith, 
that  shineth  out  there  no  less  than  this  star  did  in  the 
firmament.  A  star  that  will  bring  every  man  to  Christ, 
and  make  him  wise  enough;  for  it  will  make  him  wise 
to  salvation,  which  is  a  wisdom  far  above  all  that  worldly 
men  have,  and  far  transcending  all  that  these  wise  men  had 
before  they  had  it. 

Wise  men  they  were  before,  and  much  knowledge  they 
had,  but  never  so  truly  wise  till  now  that  their  knowledge  in 
other  matters  brought  them  to  the  true  knowledge  of  Christ, 
and  that  their  looking  up  to  heaven,  to  the  light  and  the 
star  there,  taught  them  how  to  find  their  way  on  earth,  and 

2Pet.  1.19.  to  come,  with  St. Peter's  star  in  their  hearts,  to  Him  Whom 

Eev.  22.  st^  John  calls  Lucifer  orientis,  that  is,  the  bright  morning 
star  of  all  the  world,  without  Whose  light  and  influence,  both 
they,  and  we,  and  all  the  world,  had  been  still  in  darkness. 
But  now  it  is  oriens  ex  alto,  and  it  was  their  wisdom  to  follow 
it,  so  will  it  be  ours ;  and  if  we  be  wise,  by  one  and  the  same 


The  nature  of  the  8lar.  301 

Spirit  we  shall  think  we  know  nothing  till  we  come  to  know 
our  right  way  to  Christ,  and  how  much  it  concerns  us  never 
to  be  seen  out  of  it,  if  ever  we  mean  to  come  where  He 
now  is. 

And  here  I  have  done  with  the  persons. 

II.  Follows  now,  to  look  awhile  upon  the  star  that  was 
presented  to  these  persons,  vidimus  enim  stellam  Ejus. 

Where  we  have  two  things  to  see  to ;  the  first,  that  they 
saw  it  was  a  star :  the  second,  that  they  saw  it  and  knew  it 
to  be  His  star.     Stella  and  stella  Ejus ;  these  two. 

(1.)  And  first,  for  the  star  itself.  To  know  what  manner 
of  star  it  was,  it  hath  posed  not  only  the  greatest  astrologers, 
(the  diviners  at  the  stars,)  but  the  greatest  divines  too,  tlie 
searchers  into  higher  matters  than  they  were  able  to  reach ; 
it  hath  posed  them  all  that  ever  meddled  in  it.  For  when 
they  have  come,  any  of  them,  to  look  too  curiously  after  it, 
it  hath  so  dazzled  their  eyes  that  like  men  planet-stricken 
they  can  hardly  tell  what  they  say,  and  conclude  about  it 
they  know  not  what*. 

The  beginning  and  the  ending  of  it,  the  place,  the  motion, 
the  splendour,  and  many  other  peculiars  it  had,  trouble 
them  all ;  insomuch  as  some  of  them,  after  a  great  deal  of 
time  and  labour  lost,  are  fain  to  give  it  quite  over,  and  say  it 
was  nothing  else  but  either  the  Angel  that  appeared  to  the 
shepherds,  or  the  Holy  Ghost  Himself.  But  though  it  be 
most  generally  held  with  St.  Austin  that  it  was  a  new-created 
star;  yet,  as  St.  Gregory  Nyssen*  said  of  it,  (for  it  was  an 
opinion  older  than  St.  Austin  °,)  I  see  no  reason  for  it  at  all. 
For  why  might  not  one  of  the  very  stars  be  now  set  to  move 
at  God's  pleasure,  out  of  the  ordinary  way  and  course  of  it 
for  this  purpose,  as  well  as  the  sun  and  the  moon  were  once 
made  to  stand  still  and  not  to  move  at  all,  for  another? 

We  will  therefore  let  all  other  men's  sayings  of  it  alone, 

•  The  various   opinions    respecting  "  Proinde    non    ex    illis    erat   haec 

tins  star  have  been  collected  and  the  stellis  qus  ab  initio  creaturae  itineruin 

theories    respecting    it    discussed    by  suorum   ordinem    sub    Creatoris   legb 

Suarez  in  3  Thonise,  q.  36.  art.  8.  disp.  custodiunt;    sed  novo  Virginis   partu 

14.  §  5,  and  Tostat  in  cap.  ii.  S.  Matth.  novum    sidus   apparuit. —  S.  August., 

q.  11,  12,  13,  H,  &c.  torn.  viii.  col.  135.     See  also  the  pas- 

'  S.  Greg.  Nyss.,  torn.  iii.  pp.  343,  sage  of  Suarez  last  referred  to,  where 

344.  edit.  Par.  1638.  St.  Augustine's  opinion  is  defended. 


302  Why  the  magi  were  guided 

SEEM,  and  rest  only  in  these  who  say  they  saw  it  with  their  eyes, 

'■ —  that  a  star  it  was.    And  if  we  will  now  look  at  it,  as  they  did, 

more  to  increase  our  faith  than  to  satisfy  our  curiosity,  we 
shall  find  enough  in  this  book  of  the  Scriptures  to  content 
us,  and  to  resolve  us  all  the  questions  that  need  to  be  made 
about  it.  Leaving  therefore  the  exact  particulars  of  it  to 
Him  That  first  made  it,  and  afterwards  ordered  it  as  He 
pleased  best  Himself,  and  Who  indeed  only  knows  what  it 

Ps.  147. 4.  was,  (for  He  can  call  all  the  stars  by  their  names,  which  no 
man  could  ever  yet  do  besides,) — if  we  demand  why  God  did 
here  manifest  His  Son  by  a  star?  three  reasons  there  are 
given  of  it,  and  being  all  grounded  upon  the  mysteries  of  our 
faith  and  religion,  they  are  good  and  useful  for  us,  all  three ; 
but  there  is  a  fourth  that  is  more  sure  and  certain  than  they 
are,  and  to  that,  when  we  shall  come  to  it,  (for  I  see  I  shall 
be  hardly  able  to  reach  it  to-day,)  we  are  to  hold  us. 

(1.)  But  first,  by  a  star  it  was,  and  no  greater  light;  for 
though  the  Epiphany  of  Christ  would  have  been  more  glori- 
ous, and  more  manifestation-like  if  it  had  been  made  manifest 
by  the  sun,  or  by  the  moon,  from  whence  the  sound  of  it 
would  have  gone  out  into  all  lands,  and  the  news  of  it  to 

Eom.  10.  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  that  the  whole  world  might 
have  been  stirred  up  at  it,  and  so  set  to  enquire  after  it,  in 
twenty-four  hours  at  furthest ; — yet  because  the  fulness  of 
the  Gentiles  was  not  to  come  in  all  at  once,  they  had  but 
their  star-light  at  the  dawning  of  the  day,  but  afterwards 
they  had  the  sun  in  his  brightness,  his  full  strength  upon 
them,  and  then  was  Christ  in  His  glory;  now  He  was  in 
His  humility. 

(2.)  But  secondly,  by  a  star  it  was,  and  no  less  light ;  it 
was  neither  a  meteor  nor  a  fire-drake,  but  a  star  it  was,  and 
a  glorious  creature  it  was.  For  the  stars  are  the  glorious 
inhabitants  of  heaven ;  and  for  one  of  them  to  wait  upon 
Christ's  humility  here  on  earth,  it  was  a  sign  that  there  was 
somewhat  more  in  His  person  than  was  to  be  seen  in  His 
condition;  more  in  that  little  habitation  at  Bethlem,  over 
which  the  star  stood,  than  was  in  all  the  world  besides,  and 
more  to  be  honoured. 

Whereof  ye  shall  mark  the  Evangelists  to  be  ever  care- 
ful in  mentioning  these  two  together,  His  humility  and  His 


Ps.  19.  4. 


by  the  leading  of  a  star.  303 

glory,  His  lowliness  and  His  majesty,  all  His  life  through. 
If  men  be  scandalized  and  offended  at  it  when  they  hear  of 
their  Saviour  in  a  cratch,  where  they  themselves  through 
their  own  pride  and  luxury  had  laid  Him,  let  them  listen  to 
the  celestial  music  that  the  Angels  and  the  quire  of  heaven  Lu.  2. 13. 
made  about  it,  as  soon  as  ever  they  had  but  named  it  to  the 
shepherds.     If  they  think  much  of  His  stable,  let  them  look 
upon  His  star.     He  That  was  hungry  Himself  knew  how  to  Mat.  21. 
feed  many  thousands  at  a  time ;    and  He  That  died  upon  -^^^  ^i 
the  cross,  which  useth  to  be  the  greatest  scandal  of  all,  was  21.  &c. 
at  the  very  same  time  disposing  of  paradise,  which  is  the  46. 
greatest  power  of  all.     Ye  shall  see  a  beam  of  this  star  still  iCori^s. 
pointing  to  Him,  and  reflecting  again  from  Him,  in  every 
thing  He  did. 

(3.)  Thirdly,  by  a  star,  as  most  suitable  and  agreeable  to 
them  here,  that  were  seen  in  the  stars  and  read  in  that  book 
of  the  creatures,  for  the  stars  were  the  best  books  they  had. 
And  where  they  sought  God  in  His  works,  God  was  pleased 
to  reveal  somewhat  more  to  them  in  His  word,  and  to  meet 
with  them  in  their  own  learning  '. 

Qui  disponit  omnia  suaviter,  as  the  Wise  Man  speaks  of  trov.  ic. 
Him;  God  disposeth  of  all  things  and  applies  Himself  so  to 
all  men,  that  otherwhiles  He  becomes  that  thing  to  us  which 
we  most  affect  and  study.     For  He  puts  no  man  out  of  his 
way,  (always  provided  that  sinful  courses  and  wicked  studies 
be  accounted  no  ways,  for  they  are  deviations,  and  running 
out  of  a  man's  way,)  but  otherwise  the  Holy  Ghost  will  pur- 
sue every  man  in  his  own  way,  if  they  be  willing  to  listen 
after  Him ;  and  therefore  He  deals  here  with  these  men  as 
He  does  often  in  other  places  of  this  book,  He  speaks  usually 
in  such  forms,  and  after  such  a  manner,  as  may  most  work 
upon  them  to  whom  He  speaks.     Of  Moses  and  David,  that  Ex.  32.  34: 
were  both  shepherds  before,  God  says  that  He  took  them  to  pg  78.  71. 
lead  and  to  feed  His  people.     To  the  Samaritan  whom  Christ  "^^^^  ^-  ^^• 
found  at  the  well.  He  took  occasion  to  preach  to  her  of  the 
water  of  life.     To  those  that  followed  Him  to  Capernaum  for  Job.  6. 35. 
bread,  He  preached  of  the  bread  of  heaven,  and  the  food 
that  should  never  perish.     To  them  that  were  fishers.  He  Mat.  4. 19. 
tells  them  that  they  should  be  so  still,  though  in  a  more 

»  See  Tostat.  in  ii.  cap.  S.Matth.  q.  11. 


304  Why  they  were  thus  guided. 

SEEM,  troublesome  sea  than  they  toiled  and  wrought  in  before. 

'- —  And  to  these  men  in  the  text,  accustomed  to  the  study  and 

contemplation  of  the  stars,  He  presents  them  with  a  star 

agreeable  to  their  own  employment,  that  so  He  might  bring 

them  that  way,  by  their  own  way,  to  Himself. 

And  yet  He  does  it  not  here  by  an  asterism,  but  by  one 

star  only,  and  no  more,  the  better  to  advance  their  learning 

from  a  natural  and  ordinary,  to  a  supernatural  and  divine 

knowledge  of  Him.     For  those  that  are  natural  astrologers. 

Gen.  1. 14.  to  whom,  as  we  read  in  Genesis,  God  hath  given  the  stars  of 

heaven  for  signs  and  seasons,  they  never  use  to  calculate  by 

one  star  alone,  but  most  an  end  by  the  conjunctions  of  many 

aspects,  by  constellations  and  oppositions  in  the  ascendant  of 

one  star  against  another,  which  here  these  men  found  not. 

But  this  they  found,  that  herein  God  did  not  so  much 

put  them  out  of  this  way  as  He  set  them  forwards,  and  far 

righter  in  it  than  they  were  before. 

Be  but  we  willing  to  have  Christ  alway  in  our  eye,  to  make 

Him  the  guide  and  end  of  our  way,  and  He  will  never  lead 

us  out  of  it,  but  make  use  even  of  our  own  ways  to  bring 

1  Cor.  9.     us  to  heaven.     For  He  is,  as  His  Apostle  was;  He  makes 

^^'  heaven  all  things  to  all  men,  that  He  might  gain  all.     To 

the  man  that  loves  true  pleasure  and  gladness.  He  presents 

Gal.  5.  22.  it  as  all  joy  ;  and  to  the  like  ambitious  man,  as  all  glory ;  to 

Mat.  13.     the  merchant-man  it  is  a  pearl ;  to  the  husbandman  it  is 

Mat.  13.     ^  ^^^^  field.     To  all  men  it  is  made  all  things,  that  they 

?^-     „  ,„  might  come  all  thither  to  Him. 
1  Cor.  9. 19.        ^ 

And  these  three  are  good  lessons  for  us,  and  good  reasons 
for  the  star. 

(4.)  But  there  is  yet  another,  to  which  I  must  stick  closer, 
and  rely  upon  it  more  than  upon  all  these,  and  that  is  the 
fourth  and  the  last  reason  of  all,  if  we  could  pursue  it  now ; 
that  God  might  be  as  good  as  His  word,  and  found  true  in 
His  promise,  whereof  He  never  fails. 

For  He  had  long  since  made  a  special  promise  to  us  all,  that 

this  star,  by  the  name  of  a  star,  should  arise  upon  us ;  orietur 

Num.  24.    Stella  ex  Jacob.   It  will  take  up  some  time  to  look  upon  it  well. 

But  there  came  one  from  the  mountains  of  the  east,  fifteen 

B.C.  1452.    hundred  years  before,  and  saw  in  his  prophecy  there,  (which 

Num.  23.    God  Himself  had  put  into  his  mouth,)  the  same  star  that  the 


The  subject  to  be  continued.  305 

wise  men'^  saw  here,  and  the  same  light  that  Simeon  saw 
after,  saw  it  with  his  eyes ;  we  say  one  of  our  hymns  for  Lu.  2. 42. 
it  there  every  dayy,  in  memory  that  this  promise  of  God 
was  kept,  and  that  this  prophecy  was  fulfilled  by  it,  the 
prophecy  of  orietur  stella  in  Jacob ;  which  is  all  the  light  we 
have  now  or  ever  they  had  before  us,  to  bring  us  all  out  of 
the  kingdom  of  sin  and  darkness  to  the  kingdom  of  grace 
and  glory ;  grace  here  and  glory  hereafter. 

It  is  a  good  point,  this,  to  be  followed ;  but  we  are  now 
at  a  good  period  to  make  our  stand. 

And  because  both  the  season  is  to  be  regarded,  and  the 
Sacrament  to  be  attended,  I  will  therefore  suflFer  the  time  to 
take  me  here  off  from  this  sermon.  There  are  in  the  text 
both  this  point  and  two  more,  which  I  propounded  to  my- 
self at  first  to  be  stood  upon  and  considered  more  at  large ; 
but  there  are  more  Sundays  belonging  to  this  Epiphany  of 
Christ  than  one,  and  it  will  not  be  untimely  both  to  make 
an  end  of  this  text  and  to  make  our  best  use  of  this  star, 
upon  any  of  them  all. 

To  God  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  three  persons 
and  one  eternal  Deity,  be  all  honour  and  glory,  now  and 
for  ever.     Amen. 

■  See  the  authorities  quoted  by  Suarez,  in  3  Thorn.,  torn.  ii.  p.  154. 
y  The  Nunc  dimittis. 


SERMON  XXIL 


COEAM  [EEGE  ET  DUCIBUS»]  JACOBO,  &c. 

PARIS.   IN  FESTO  NATIVITATIS  CHRISTI.   1655. 

1  Timothy  iii,  16  ^ 

Magnum  est  pietatis  mysterium,  Deus  manifest atus  in  came. 

Great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness,  God  manifest  in  the  flesh. 

SEEM.       Here  is  mysterium  and  magnum,  a  mystery,  and  a  great 

'—  one ;  and  it  is  not  the  least  nor  the  easiest  part  of  our  office 

in  preaching,  to  explain  and  unfold  a  mystery,  so  that  every 
one  may  apprehend  and  understand  what  we  say  it  is.  A 
great  mystery  it  is  that  we  are  now  to  speak  of;  in  which 
respect  the  time  and  the  text  are  so  far  both  alike  ;  for  this 
is  a  time  wherein  we  keep  a  great  festival  in  the  Church, 
and  this  is  a  text  whereupon  we  found  a  great  article  in  our 
Creed,  the  feast  and  the  article  of  God's  nativity  and  mys- 
terious incarnation;  than  which  there  is  not  a  greater  that 
belongs  to  our  religion.  But  the  greatness  is  not  all.  There 
is,  besides  the  greatness  of  the  day  and  the  greatness  of  the 
mystery,  somewhat  else  required,  both  to  make  up  the  text 
and  to  make  up  our  duty  that  we  owe  too :  for  it  is  not  only 
magnum  mysterium,  but  magnee  pietatis  mysterium ; — a  great 
mystery,  and  a  great  deal  of  piety  and  godliness  that  goes 
along  with  it ;  wherein,  if  the  greatness  of  our  duty  may  be 
answerable  also  to  the  greatness  of  the  feast,  and  be  made 

■  The  words  enclosed  within  brackets      alterations  and  transpositions,  that  the 
are  marked  for  omission.  arrangement  intended  to  be  ultimately 

''  This  sermon  abounds  with  so  many      adopted  is  not  quite  obvious. 


Division  of  the  subject.  307 

like  to  the  mystery  of  this  text ;  that  is  to  say,  if  God's 
being  made  manifest  in  the  flesh  may  teach  us  to  deny  and 
abandon  all  the  ungodly  and  manifest  lusts  of  the  flesh ; 
which  is  the  great  and  the  proper  lesson  of  this  day,  the 
lesson  that  we  shall  hear  anon  at  night, — then,  and  then 
only,  do  we  keep  a  good  Christmas :  for  this  feast  is  ever 
so  to  begin  and  so  to  be  concluded,  that  it  may  leave  the 
better  impression  in  us,  and  learn  us  how  to  begin  to-day 
with  Christ,  to  live  well  all  the  year  after.  To  this  end  is- 
this  feast  to  be  ordered;  for  to  no  other  ends  do  we  observe 
any  times  or  feasts  in  the  Church  whatsoever;  that,  the 
lesson  and  the  doctrine,  and  this,  the  use  of  them  all. 

The  doctrine,  to  confirm  us  in  the  faith  of  Christ ;  and 
the  use,  to  conform  us  to  the  life  of  Christ :  that  our  godli- 
ness may  be  as  manifest  to  Him,  as  His  mystery  was  made 
manifest  here  to  us ''. 

But  to  set  forth  the  heads  which  we  intend  upon  this 
text,  there  are  in  it  four  several  terms,  whereof  each  term 
will  make  us  a  part. 

I.  Mysterium  is  the  first.  That  there  are  certain  secrets 
and  mysteries  in  our  Christian  religion,  whereof  here  is  one. 

II.  Secondly,  Quid  sibi  vult  hoc  mysterium,  what  this 
mystery  here  is ;  and  it  is  Deus  manifestatus  in  carne,  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh. 

III.  To  which  there  belongs,  in  the  third  place,  a  quantum, 
how  great  a  mystery  it  is. 

IV.  And  in  the  fourth,  a  quale,  of  what  nature  and  quality 
it  is. 

Magnum  pietatis  mysterium.  It  is  a  great  mystery  of  piety ; 
was  so  to-day  with  Christ,  and  would  be  no  less  with  us ;  for 
He  looks  to  have  such  use  made  of  it.  This  mystery  of  piety 
to  be  opposed  to  all  the  mysteries  of  iniquity ;  and  God's 
coming  in  the  flesh  to  be  set  against  the  ungodly  and  sinful 
lusts  of  the  flesh ;  for  otherwise  we  shall  make  no  more  than 
a  history  only  of  this  mystery,  and  be  never  the  better. 

\^  The  first  words  of  this  verse  are,  that  this  mystery  was 

'    Then    originally   followed    these  controversy  of  the  other.' 
words,  which  were  afterwards  erased: —  ''  Tlie  passage  here  enclosed  within 

'  and  that  we  might  give  no  more  con-  brackets  has  been  marked  by  Cosin  for 

tradiction  to  the  one  than  St.  Paul  and  omission, 
all  true  Christians  after  him  made  a 

x2 


308  The  Christian  religion 

SEEM,  without  controversy ;  that  is,  was  so  in  the  Apostle's  days, 

'—  all  the  Church  over;  and  but  for  a  few  unquiet  and  unruly 

spirits  of  contradiction,  that  have  risen  up  since,  would  have 
continued  so  still ;  we  should  have  heard  of  no  more  con- 
troversy about  it  in  our  days  than  St.  Paul  did  in  his:  but 
we  meddle  with  no  controversies  here.  Be  it  where  it  will, 
of  this  sure  I  am,  that  the  true  Churches  of  Christ  make 
none  about  it  at  all.  And  I  presume  there  are  none  in  this 
place,  for  we  are  all  come  out  to  keep  the  feast ;  I  cannot 
answer  for  them  that  be  away  and  keep  it  not ;  but  none 
of  us  that  are  otherwise  minded.  Therefore  did  I  at  first 
leave  these  first  words  out,  and  took  it  for  granted,  that 
without  controversy  this  text  will  pass  upon  St.  Paul's  terms 
•  of  ofioXoyovf^iveos ;  that  is,  for  an  article  of  our  common 
confession,  and  a  received  truth  among  us  all. 

Concerning  which  truth,  though  there  be  among  our  in- 
terpreters some  difi^erence  in  the  reading  %  and  some  in  the 
sense,  yet  neither  of  them  is  material ;  and  I  shall  pray  you 
to  think  I  make  choice  both  of  that  reading  and  that  sense, 
which  I  judge  to  be  most  sound  and  agreeable  to  this 
festival.] 

Of  which  that  we  may  speak,  &c. 

Pater  noster,  ^c. 

I.  *  Great  is  the  mystery/  We  will  first  discourse  of  it  a 
little  in  the  general,  that  there  are  some  mysteries  in  religion. 
For  as  all  other  arts  and  sciences  have  their  own  proper  and 
peculiar  mysteries  belonging  specially  to  themselves,  which 
are  not  so  well  known  or  comprehended  by  every  ordinary 
and  vulgar  capacity,  as  they  are  by  those  that  be  professed 
that  way,  and  have  had  their  wits  and  their  senses  long 
exercised  in  them, — so  is  it  in  divinity ;  wherein,  besides  the 
known  and  universal  principles  which  it  hath  common  with 
other  sciences,  there  be  certain  secret  and  mystical  points  to 
be  delivered,  which  it  hath  peculiar  to  itself;  there  be  some 
deep  and  high  points  of  religion :  whereof  the  mystery  of  God 
incarnate  here  in  our  flesh  is  but  one.     The  things  of  Christ 

*  Namely,  6  or  Ss,  instead  of  &ehs,      add  Burton's  Testimonies  of  the  Ante- 
concerning  which  see  Wolfius,  and  the      Nicene  Fathers,  p.  141.  369. 
authorities  there  pointed  out,  to  which 


abounds  with  mysteries.  309 

are  secrets,  all.  His  whole  history  is  a  mystery,  and  the  pro- 
ject of  it  no  less,  which  tends  all  to  mystical  and  high 
matters;  the  preaching  whereof,  because  otherwhiles  they 
go  cross  to  the  common  conceit  of  carnal  and  worldly  men, 
seem  to  be  nothing  else  but  so  many  paradoxes  and  un- 
reasonable strange  things ;  as  the  philosophers  said  to  St. 
Paul  at  Athens,  when  they  heard  him  preach  the  things  of 
Christ  there,  peregrina  quadam  infers  auribus  nostris ;  the  Acts  17. 
masters  of  those  schools  were  not  acquainted  with  them. 
Even  moral  divinity  is  harsh  to  flesh  and  blood ;  for  we 
preach  against  sensual  pleasures,  and  they  love  nothing 
better ;  we  preach  obedience,  and  every  man  loves  to  be  at 
liberty;  we  would  keep  the  will  and  the  affections  of  men  in 
order,  and  no  man  loves  to  be  confined.  How  will  they  do 
for  renouncing  the  world,  and  setting  their  spirits  to  be  at 
a  continual  enmity  and  warfare  against  their  flesh  !  There 
are  no  matters  so  strange  and  mystical  to  men  as  those  two 
be ;  and  yet  if  it  were  not  for  the  common  mysteries  of  ini- 
quity, which  most  men  court  and  follow,  these  mysteries  of 
moral  divinity  and  duties  of  religion  would  be  plain  and 
easy  enough  to  them. 

But  the  mysteries  and  matters  of  faith,  that  common  sense 
and  reason  do  not  so  usually  employ  themselves  to  under- 
stand, they  are  mysteries  indeed.  I  speak  concerning  Christ 
and  His  Church,  saith  St.  Paul,  in  which  respect  this  Sacra-  Eph.  5. 32. 
ment  is  a  mystery,  this  and  the  other  are  great  mysteries 
both.  The  making  of  a  man  a  new  creature  is  a  mystery, 
that  is,  another  manner  of  person  than  he  was  before;  the 
resurrection  and  the  life  eternal  are  mysteries.  No  carnal 
man  conceives  what  any  of  these  things  are ;  they  are  either 
hid  from  his  eyes,  or  else  there  is  such  a  beam  in  his  eye 
that  he  cannot  see  them.  But  among  all  these,  there  is  none 
that  finds  a  slower  and  harder  belief  than  this  mystery  in  the 
text,  nor  none  that  ever  met  with  a  stronger  opposition. 

For  it  is  a  mystery  in  divinity  that  is  no  where  else  to  be 
learned,  no  where  to  be  found  or  heard  of  but  in  the  schools 
of  the  Prophets  and  Apostles ;  and  therefore  the  masters  of 
natural  reason,  that  had  served  their  apprenticeship  only 
in  the  philosophic  schools,  and  walked  no  further  for  their 
sanctuary  than  to  Aristotle's  gallery,  can  never  be  brought 
to  apprehend  it. 


310  These  mysteries  are  above  reason, 

SEEM.       It  is  a  high  point  this,  and  men,  natural  men,  are  short- 

XXII 

'—  sighted ;  they  see  but  little,  and  they  believe  no  more  than 


they  see ;  which  makes  them  incapable  not  only  of  this 
mystery,  but  of  all  other  the  secrets  of  Christ's  gospel,  and 
the  mysteries  of  His  salvation,  that  are  diffused  through  the 
■whole  book  of  God  besides. 

For  indeed  the  whole  project  of  the  Bible  is  a  science  full 
of  mysteries ;  and  this  mystery  in  the  text  is  the  treasury 
and  storehouse  of  them  all. 

And  now  let  not  this  our  Bible-religion  fare  the  worse  for 
that,  that  there  are  so  many  mysteries  in  it ;  for  there  be  as 
many  lights  in  it  besides;  whereof,  if  good  use  be  made, 
those  mysteries  will  become  the  more  behoveful  for  us,  so 
2  Cor.  4. 3.  the  more  clear  to  us  ;  being  hid  to  none,  but  them  that 
perish  in  their  own  wilful  or  affected  darkness.  For  in  this 
Joh.  3. 19,  they  perish,  that  the  light  of  these  mysteries  is  come  into 
the  world,  and  they,  because  their  thoughts  and  their  deeds 
are  evil,  are  then  best  at  ease  when  that  light  is  farthest 
from  them  ;  which  is  the  true  difference  between  all  the  mys- 
teries of  iniquity  and  this  great  mystery  of  godliness. 

2.  Again,  we  ask  no  more  in  divinity  than  otherwhiles 
they  ask  in  nature;  where  the  mysteries  be  oftentimes  so 
abstruse  and  hidden  in  themselves,  that  no  man's  reason  is 
able  to  reach  them,  nor  the  light  of  nature  clear  enough  to 
find  out  the  secrets  of  nature  itself.  In  which  regard  it  is 
but  reason  we  ask ;  that  as  much  be  allowed  us  in  our  re- 
ligion as  we  allow  them  in  theirs,  and  that  Christ  may 
have  His  mysteries  as  well  as  any  naturalist  or  philosopher 
of  them  all. 

In  the  meanwhile  we  preach  no  mysteries  against  reason 
when  we  say  they  go  beyond  it,  for  in  this  case  religion  and 
reason  are  not  opposite,  but  subordinate  j  and  where  they  be 
otherwise^,  (as  in  many  mysteries  of  the  new  divinity  among 
some  of  our  neighbours  they  be,)  there  we  must  have  leave 
to  suspect  them,  and  avoid  them,  and  oppose  them  too ;  but 
where  we  bring  the  word  and  authority  of  God  for  them, 
there  is  no  more  to  be  said,  for  then  have  we  all  the  reason 
of  the  world  to  receive  them. 

And  let  none  of  the  exceptions  trouble  us  that  Julian  and 
his  disciples  made  once  against  us.     He,  and  Porphyry,  and 

See  Scherzer,  Colleg.  Anti-Socin.,  p.  21. 


not  contrary  to  it.  311 

Lucian,  were  three  apostates  from  this  mystery  of  godliness ; 
and  all  they  had  to  say  against  it  was,  that  it  wanted  reason ; 
for  they  measured  their  reason  by  their  lusts,  and  their 
understanding  by  their  own  corrupt  affections;  whatsoever 
suited  not  to  their  carnal  principles  and  the  depravations 
of  flesh  and  blood,  had  with  them  no  reason  in  it  at  all. 
And  their  disciples  are  like  them,  who  take  exceptions  tp 
these  mysteries  of  religion  for  nothing  more  than  that  there 
is  somewhat  in  them  which  will  no  way  consist  with  their 
mysteries  of  iniquity. 

For  as  to  their  other  exception,  that  we  speak  mysteries 
here  in  the  Church  which  no  man  understands,  as  when  we 
preach  this  mystery  of  Christ's  incarnation  for  one,  God  i  Tim.  3. 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  the  bare  and  simple  belief  whereof  and 
of  other  such  mysteries,  is,  as  they  say,  all  we  have  to  trust 
to,  for  want  of  other  reason, —  this  is  so  far  from  truth  and 
reason  both,  that  we  can  justly  say  there  is  never  an  Apostle, 
nor  ever  an  ancient  Father  of  the  Church,  (who  were  all  as 
great  masters  of  reason  as  any  that  take  their  liberty  to  find 
fault  with  them  for  want  of  reason,)  none  of  them  all  but 
will  be  ready  to  join  with  these  men  upon  that  title,  and 
maintain  our  mysteries  of  faith  upon  better  reason ;  that  is, 
reason  founded  upon  surer  principles,  than  any  be  in  the 
world  besides. 

For  we  teach  not  men  here  to  believe  they  know  not  what, 
nor  any  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  they  know  not 
why ;  we  believe,  saith  St.  Peter,  and  we  are  ready  to  give  i  Pet.  3. 
an  account  and  to  render  a  reason  of  what  we  believe.  Nor 
let  any  man  think  that  God  hath  given  him  so  much  ease  in 
this  life,  as  to  let  him  sit  still  there  and  make  no  use  of  his 
reason  for  the  mysteries  of  the  other  life.  We  call  it  not 
faith,  that  is  not  grounded  upon  reason ;  and  we  ground  our 
strongest  reason  upon  the  word  of  God  Himself,  That  never 
spake  other. 

To  us  it  is  given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  His  kingdom.  Mat.  13. 
and  when  we  know  them  rightly,  to  believe  them  firmly;  for     * 
faith  sets  knowledge  first  before  it,  and  then  goes  beyond  it. 
Which  is  the  mystery  and  profession  of  a  man  regenerate  b 
and  made  a  new  creature,  whereby  he  hath  a  new  faculty  of 

s  Suggested  by  the  Collect  of  the  day. 


312  The  nativity  of  our  Lord  a  fact, 

SEEM,  reason  given  him  and  becomes  a  better  man  than  he  was ; 
-~ — -^—  for  in  every  one  of  us  there  be,  as  the  A-postle  speaks,  two 
16.  several  men,  two  different  persons  in  two  several  respects, 

the  outward  and  the  inward  man.  By  the  outward  we  be- 
lieve natural  and  moral  things;  by  the  inward  we  believe 
the  mystery  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  have  our  rational 
apprehensions  exalted  to  a  higher  level  than  they  were  be- 
fore ;  this  by  grace,  and  that  by  nature ;  but  both  by  the 
grace  and  will  of  God,  That  hath  ordered  them  both  to  thd 
knowledge  and  belief  of  His  mysteries. 

In  all  which  we  do  not  compare  the  master  and  the  ser- 
vant, nor  make  our  reason  equal  to  our  faith ;  and  yet  we 
thank  that  servant  that  brings  us  to  his  master.  We  make 
a  great  diflference  between  the  treasure  in  the  chest  and  the 
key  that  helps  to  open  it,  and  yet  we  are  glad  to  have  that 
key  ready  in  our  hands.  The  faculties  of  nature  are  far 
from  being  enough ;  but  as  a  candle  may  kindle  a  torch,  so 
into  those  faculties  of  nature,  well  employed,  doth  God  infuse 
the  light  of  faith  to  let  me  in  to  His  mysteries  of  religion. 

And  thus  much  we  thought  fit  to  be  spoken  of  these  mys- 
teries in  general.  Come  we  now  to  the  mysteries  of  this  day, 
for  which  we  are  chiefly  come  hither,  in  particular. 

II.  That  Christ  was  made  manifest  and  born  to-day  in 
the  flesh,  we  have  it  upon  record  and  by  way  of  history,  set 
forth  both  in  secular  and  sacred  authors.     Of  this  there  was 
no  doubt  at  all,  for  it  had  the  greatest  attestation  to  it  that 
Lu.  2. 8.     could  be  required  in  a  story ;  heaven  and  earth  rang  of  it. 
The  shepherds  went  out  from  the  fields ;  and  the  heralds  of 
Lu.  2. 9.     heaven,  the  Angels,  came  down  from  their  celestial  mansions 
Mat.  2. 1,  to  publish  it ;  and  the  princes  of  the  earth  went  forth  from 
3, 4,  &o.     ^^^  mountains  of  the  east  to  wait  upon  it ;  from  the  shepherd 
to  the  king  they  enquired  after  it,  and  all  the  streets  of  Jeru- 
salem were  filled  with  the  noise  and  report  about  it.     The 
records  were  likewise  fetched,  and  they  found  out  there  both 
the  person,  and  the  place,  and  the  time,  and  missed  not  a 
circumstance  that  belonged  to  it.     All  the  scribes  were  con- 
sulted, and  all  the  prophecies  produced  that  had  been  written 
of  it  many  hundred  years  before;  kings,  and  priests,  and 
people  all  together,  every  one  made  it  their  business  to  attend 
to  it  for  the  time ;  and  from  thenceforth  all  the  world  was 


no  less  than  a  mystery.  313 

taken  up  with  the  thoughts  of  it.  This,  as  it  presumes  it 
a  great  birth,  so  it  makes  it  a  great  history ;  and  if  it  were 
no  more  than  so,  it  deserves  all  the  outward  honour  and  so- 
lemnity that  we  can  give  it,  which  is  to  proclaim  the  mani- 
festation of  this  birth  still,  and  to  keep  up  the  memory  of 
this  day  alive,  that  it  may  never  die  in  our  [hearts,]  as  it  is 
like  to  do  in  theirs  who  of  late  have  scraped  it  out  of  their 
calendar K  I  go  no  further  in  the  history;  and  yet,  as 
I  said,  if  it  were  no  more  but  a  history,  it  is  one  of  the 
greatest  certainty,  and  the  greatest  dignity,  and  the  greatest 
concernment,  that  ever  the  world  heard  of  besides. 

Indeed  the  common  sort  of  the  world,  they  look  no  further 
after  it  and  make  no  more  of  it  than  a  great  holy- day  history 
at  the  best ;  as  it  is  from  year  to  year  remembered  here  in 
the  Church,  and  recorded  in  the  Evangelists. 

But  the  Apostle  in  this  text  stays  not  there,  he  goes 
further  than  the  Evangelists,  and  looks  into  the  secrets  of 
their  story;  he  finds  out  a  mystery  in  this  history.  Be- 
tween which  two  there  are  great  odds;  for  men  may  sit 
down  and  hear  a  story,  and  rise  up  again  to  go  their  way 
without  putting  themselves  to  any  further  trouble  about  it. 
But  with  a  mystery  there  is  somewhat  else  to  do;  it  will 
busy  all  their  thoughts,  and  set  the  best  faculties  that  they 
have  to  work  upon  it.  So  I  may  read  a  history,  and  never 
wipe  mine  eyes  for  it ;  but  to  see  into  a  mystery,  I  had  need 
of  clean  eyes,  and  a  clean  heart,  and  all ;  for  the  one  is  but 
the  letter,  and  the  other  is  the  spirit. 

I  ask  then,  what  spirit  is  there  in  this  letter?  what  mys- 
tery is  there  in  this  history  of  the  birth  of  Christ?  And 
the  Apostle  says  there  is  a  great  mystery  of  piety  in  it. 

For  the  better  understanding  whereof,  we  are  specially  to 
take  notice  of  these  two  words  that  follow,  Deus  is  one,  and 
incarnatus  is  another;  that  is,  the  reconciling  and  the  joining 
of  God's  nature  and  ours  both  together  in  Christ,  which  were 
so  far  fallen  out  and  severed  asunder  before,  that  if  it  had 
not  been  for  this  mystery  of  piety,  Deris  would  have  been  the 
death  of  incarnatus ;  that  is,  God  would  have  destroyed  men, 

*•  Namely,   the    dominant    puritan      tration   in   Evelyn's   Memoirs,  vol.  i. 
party  in  England,  of  whose  antipathy      p.  298,  also  p.  263.  edit.  1818. 
to  this  festival  see  an  interesting  illus- 


314  Justice  is  no  less  an  attribute 

SEEM,  one  and  other  all  the  world  over,  and  no  flesh  had  escaped 

■Y"V'TT 

the  power  and  darkness  of  hell;    for  thus  stood  the  case 


Gen.  6. 12.  betwixt  Him  and  us.  All  flesh  had  corrupted  their  ways, 
•atemnity.  and  Deus  and  caro,  God^s  nature  and  ours,  were  two^  We 
and  He  had  fallen  foully  asunder;  but  the  fault  was  ours, 
and  He  was  so  highly  ofl'ended  with  it,  that  Wrath  went  out 
from  His  presence  and  called  for  Justice  to  proceed  against 
us.  And  when  Justice  came  forth,  she  came  in  the  shape 
and  habit  of  that  Angel  that  stood  with  a  flaming  sword  in 
his  hand,  ready  to  strike  and  execute  vengeance  upon  us  all. 
Nor  had  there  been  any  way  but  that  one  with  us,  had  not 
His  mercy  been  as  near  and  as  dear  to  Him  as  His  justice 
ever  was,  which  brought  One  to  stand  before  Him  That  ofi'ered 
to  give  Justice  all  the  satisfaction  which  she  could  any  way 
demand,  and  so  procure  our  peace  for  us.  For  if  one  might 
be  got  to  do  that,  what  could  Justice  require  more?  But  all 
the  mystery  was  in  the  person.  Who  was  able,  and  Who  was 
willing  to  do  it ;  and  That  was  Christ,  in  the  mystery  of  His 
incarnation,  which  was  this  day  made  manifest  to  the  world. 

For  otherwise  it  might  never  have  been  done ;  no  way  to 
satisfy  Justice,  but  this  alone. 

Indeed  somewhat  it  was  that  Mercy  had  to  say  for  us,  and 
this  she  said ;  What,  had  God  made  all  men  for  nought  ? 
would  He  first  make  them  all,  and  then  destroy  them  all  ? 
or  would  He  be  angry  with  them  for  ever  ?  What  if  they 
had  ofl'ended  Him ;  yet  was  there  any  ofl'ence  that  He  might 
not  pardon  ?  And  thereupon  she  appealed  from  the  throne 
of  His  justice  to  the  throne  of  His  grace;  for  these  two 
thrones  are  one  above  another. 

Sedens  in  solio  justitice ;  when  God  sits  in  His  tribunal- 
seat  of  strict  justice,  it  is  well  known  which  way  the  sentence 
is  like  to  go ;  but  sedens  in  throno  ffraiice,  if  He  might  be  got 
to  remove  awhile  and  to  sit  upon  His  throne  of  grace,  there 
the  style  of  the  court  might  alter,  and  the  terms  of  proceed- 
ing in  it  be  far  more  favourable.  And  thither  did  this  mys- 
tery of  His  piety  and  mercy  carry  Him. 

Yet  even  thither  did  Justice  go  along  with  Him,  and 

pleaded  her  own  case  still;  that  God  must  be  true  and  just 

of  His  word,  which  word  was  now  past,  and  past  recalling. 

Ezek.  18.    The  soul  that  sinneth,  that  soul  must  die,  die  here  and  die 

4,20. 


of  God  than  is  mercy.  315 

eternally ;  Adam,  and  all  his  posterity  after  him ;  that  if 
the  judge  of  all  the  earth  would  do  right,  it  might  not  be  Gen.  18. 
otherwise ;  all  flesh  was  corrupted  and  the  nature  of  man  Gen.  6. 12. 
universally  disobedient,  which  must  therefore  answer  for  it- 
self. And  without  this,  there  was  no  reconciliation  to  be 
made,  nor  no  satisfaction  to  be  given  to  justice;  which 
being  one  of  God's  nearest  favourites,  and  an  attribute 
every  way  as  essential  to  Him  as  His  mercy  was,  must  at 
no  hand  be  disregarded  or  suffer  any  wrong. 

And  thus  stood  the  pleading  betwixt  them.  In  the  mean- 
while we  stand  before  the  judge  still,  and  we  know  not  what 
shall  become  of  us. 

But  there  is  in  one  of  the  Psalms  •  that  we  said  over  to- 
day, a  final  agreement  made  about  all  this  process  between 
Justice  and  [Mercy.  And  the  terms  are  such  there,  that 
Justice  itself  could  hold  out  no  longer  nor  take  any  further 
exception  against  them. 

For  thus  it  was  agreed,  that  first,  truth  should  be  made  to 
flourish  again  out  of  the  earth ;  that  is,  out  of  the  nature 
and  first  beginning  of  man  there  should  another  man^  be 
made,  that  could  do  as  much  for  all  mankind  to  save  it, 
as  the  first  man  of  all  had  done  to  destroy  it. 

This  is  Veritas  orietur  de  terra,  and  that  is  nothing  else 
but  that  Christ  should  be  born  upon  the  earth,  to  renew 
the  face  of  it  and  to  set  all  in  order  again. 

Which  no  other  man  could  do,  who  had  all  undone  them- 
selves, and  put  every  thing  that  belonged  to  their  peace  and 
happiness  hereafter  clean  out  of  all  order,  and  out  of  their 
own  power  besides. 

But  Christ  was  first,  the  Son  of  God,  and  being  of  the 
same  nature  and  power  with  Him,  was  able  to  make  peace 
with  Him  for  the  sons  of  men ;  and  for  that  purpose  would 
become  one  of  them  Himself;  which  gave  Justice  half  a 
satisfaction  already ;  for  sin  and  corruption  had  fouled  our 
nature,  and  He  would  undertake  to  come  and  appear  in  it, 
that  in  His  person  it  might  be  made  pure  and  clean  again. 
One  for  all,  in  the  sight  of  God's  own  eyes. 

So  He  That  was  one  with  God  became  one  with  us,  that 
way  might  be  made  to  bring  God  and  man  both  together; 
'  Ps.  85.  11,  one  of  the  proper  Psalms  for  Christmas  morning. 


316  Justice  and  mercy  are  united 

SEEM,  as  at  an  unity  in  His  person,  so  at  an  union  between  them- 

'- —  selves ;  for  to  bring  these  two  together,  was  all  this  done,  and 

so  far  is  the  mystery  made  manifest  to  us.  Yet  was  not  this 
all  neither,  for  Justice  proceeded  on  still,  and  required  a  fur- 
ther matter  to  be  done  before  her  balance  could  be  made  even. 

She  therefore  asked  if  He,  That  would  be  born  for  us, 
would  be  likewise  content  to  die  for  us  too;  for  without 
Heb.  9.  22.  blood  and  sacrifice  for  sin  there  was  no  remission  of  sin  to 
be  granted  in  any  of  God's  courts  whatsoever.  But  if  He 
would  undertake  that  and  all,  she  would  ask  no  more ;  nor 
could  she  say  otherwise  but  that  this  would  satisfy  her  to 
the  full. 

For  as  He  was  the  Son  of  God  from  all  eternity,  so  He 
would  be  able  to  do  it ;  and  as  He  was  now  made  the  Son  of 
man,  so  He  would  become  liable  and  subject  to  it.  Deus  in 
came  natus,  and  Christus  in  morte  datus,  both  these  together 
will  tie  up  the  hands  of  Justice,  and  let  this  mystery  of  piety 
and  mercy  so  proceed  upon  us,  that  if  it  be  not  our  own 
fault  it  will  be  sure  to  open  the  way  of  salvation  for  us  all ; 
that  our  sins  may  not  prove  our  destruction,  which  other- 
wise they  will  certainly  do  and  leave  us  in  the  hands  of  Jus- 
tice, whilst  Mercy  stands  looking  on,  knowing  no  other  way 
in  the  world  to  help  us  but  this  alone. 

For  herein  was  both  the  justice  and  mercy  of  God  made 
manifest,  and  both  preserved  in  their  own  full  integrity,  ex- 
tending to  all  that  either  of  them  could  ask.  When  first, 
in  that  nature  wherein  flesh  had  sinned,  the  same  flesh  was 
to  be  renewed,  for  else  the  proceeding  had  not  been  just; 
and  so  came  Christ  the  Son  of  man  to  be  born.  And  again, 
in  that  nature  which  was  able  to  do  it  was  a  full  satisfaction 
to  be  given,  or  else  it  would  never  have  been  given ;  and  so 
came  Deus^  the  Son  of  God,  to  be  born,  Deus  incarnatus ; 
put  both  these  together,  and  so  have  you  both  the  mystery 
that  is  in  this  text,  and  the  reason  that  was  in  this  mys- 
tery ;  you  know  both  what  it  is,  and  why  it  was,  that  God 
was  this  day  made  manifest  in  the  flesh. 

Which  doth  not  only  exalt  this  religion  that  we  now  pro- 
fess and  have  for  Christ,  above  all  others  that  neither  know 
His  mystery,  nor  shall  ever  have  any  part  in  Him ;  but  it 
confirms  and  settles  every  man's  faith  and  conscience  in  it 


in  the  mediation  of  our  Saviour.  317 

besides ;    that  there  never  was,  nor  never  ought  to  be,  any  Acts  4. 12. 
other  way  of  salvation  propounded  to  us;    which,  because 
it  is  the  most  proper  and  the  most  natural  theme  for  this 
day,  therefore  have  we  chosen  it  and   stood   upon  it  the 
lono;er. 

They  that  think  this  day  not  worth  the  keeping,  have  no 
great  opinion  of  a  Saviour ;  and  they  that  keep  it,  but  make 
80  little  use  of  this  mystery  of  piety  in  it  as  they  do,  will 
never  meet  with  Him. 

But  for  those  bolder  wits,  the  masters  and  disciples  of  an 
old  forlorn  heresy,  though  they  take  it  to  be  their  own  new- 
found divinity,  who  say  that  Christ  came  not  to  satisfy  God 
for  us,  but  only  to  teach  us  what  to  do  ourselves,  as  if  any 
other  were  as  able  to  do  it  as  He ;  I  put  them  into  the  mys- 
terv  of  iniquity,  as  being  men  of  another  trade,  and  a  moral  2  Thes. 
worldly  religion,  that  this  Christian  piety  will  never  own. 

For  when  all  the  subtleties  and  inventions  of  men  are 
done,  there  is  none  able  to  satisfy  and  quiet  a  man's  con- 
science but  the  manifesting  of  this  mystery  in  Christ ;  nor 
in  this  mystery  any  other  point  of  it  more  than  what  I  now 
preach  to-day,  that  God  hath  of  His  mercy  and  piety  tied  up 
the  sword  of  His  justice  and  put  it  into  Christ's  hands.  Who 
laid  it  to-day  by  Him  in  His  cradle,  and  afterwards  took  it 
along  with  Him,  and  nailed  it  to  His  cross. 

And  it  is  well  for  us  that  we  find  it  there.  Meet  it  any 
where  else,  and  we  had  as  good  meet  a  lion  by  the  way. 

Let  every  one  take  heed  of  meeting  God's  justice  out  of 
Christ's  hands,  or  of  meeting  his  own  sins  out  of  God's 
mysteries;  even  those  sins  that  every  man  was  born  with 
will  undo  him,  but  those  wherein  he  is  bred  and  brought 
up,  much  more ;  unless  this  magnum  pietatis  mysterium  may 
come  in  to  help  him ;  which  is  all  the  hope  and  comfort  that 
we  can  give  him. 

And  thus  much  for  the  mystery  itself.  The  greatness  of 
it  is  to  follow. 

III.  The  measure  of  which  greatness  we  take  from  the 
three  words  here,  as  they  stand  in  order,  Deus,  and  Deus 
manifestatus,  and  Deus  manifestatus  in  came.     These  three. 

1.  First,  God  is  in  it,  and  He  makes  any  thing  great, 
makes  the  person  great  That  was  thus  made  manifest,  above 


318  Jesus  Christ,  although  the  Son  of  God, 

SEEM,  all  other  greatness  whatsoever.     And  it  is  as  clear  a  text 

xxn 
^  this,  for  the  greatness  which  we  believe  of  Christ's  person 

and  deity,  as  any  we  have  in   all  the    Scriptures   besides. 

So  clear,  that  the  Arians,  of  all  other  places,  were  posed  at 

this ;  and  their  later,  their  Photinian  disciples,  that  the  new 

wits  court,  not  knowing  what  to  say  against  it,  have  made 

bold  with  St.  Paul's  own  word,  and  blotted  Deus^  here,  out 

Joh.  1. 14.  of  their  Bibles.      Verbum  caro,  they  care  not  if  they  give  us 

that,  for  those  words  they  can  gloss  at  their  own  pleasure ; 

but  Deus  caro  was  too  strong  and  bright  a  character  of 

Christ  for  their  eyes  to  look  on.     The  truth  is,  they  have  an 

envious  eye  and  are  of  a  malignant  nature  against  Christ, 

and  will  not  suffer  Him  to  enjoy  His  own  greatness,  nor  to 

be  what  He  is. 

In  the  meanwhile  I  will  not  vouchsafe  them  so  much 
honour  as  to  dispute  the  case  with  them.  It  is  enough  that 
this  text  is  evident  against  them  ;  and  if  we  had  no  more 
but  this,  it  is  as  much  as  we  need  to  prove  Christ's  deity 
alone.  And  they  had  best  let  Him  alone  with  it ;  for  Christ, 
above  all  other  things,  will  least  part  with  His  greatness, 
nor  give  any  man  leave  either  to  lessen  His  title  or  to 
account  meanly  of  His  person. 

And  let  not  the  scandal  of  His  cratch  to-day,  or  of  His 
cross  another  day,  offend  us ;  there  was  a  mystery  and  a 
Mat.  2.  2.  majesty  in  them  both.  There  was  a  star  and  a  choir  of 
Lu.  2. 13.  Angels  over  the  one,  and  there  was  a  paradise  of  His  own 
disposing  over  the  other;  which  paradise  is  at  no  man's  dis- 
posing, we  may  be  sure,  but  at  God's  alone.  So  God  He  is, 
and  God  He  was,  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth  both,  when 
He  was  at  His  lowest.  And  this  makes  both  His  person 
and  His  mystery  to  be  great. 

2.  But  then  manifestaius  in  came.  How  came  these  two 
words  to  make  it  great?  for  Him  That  was  God  to  be  mani- 
fest in  the  flesh,  and  to  put  on  so  mean  a  clothing  over  His 
divine  and  eternal  nature,  as  our  human  and  created  nature 
is ;  what  greatness  was  there  in  that  ?  Yes,  the  greater 
condescension,  the  greater  piety ;  and  the  greater  piety,  the 
greater  mystery.  For  this  is  all  mysterium  pietatis ;  the 
goodness  of  the  person  augments  the  mystery,  and  makes  it 

J  See  before  p.  308,  and  Scherzer,  Colleg.  Auti-Socin.,  pp.  393,  394,  521. 


took  upon  Him  our  human  nature.  319 

still  grow  greater  than  it  was.  That  He  "Who  had  His 
dwelling  on  high,  should  so  much  regard  the  lost  and 
miserable  condition  of  men  here  below,  as  to  make  their  case 
His  own,  and  to  take  that  nature  upon  Him  which  He  would 
not  do  for  the  Angels ;  whose  condition  in  them  that  fell 
was  as  bad  as  ours,  and  their  nature  far  better; — that  He 
would  in  no  wise  look  that  way  upon  the  nobler  creature, 
but  turn  His  face  and  offer  all  His  favours  to  us,  the  lower 
extraction  of  the  two ;  that  when  both  needed  it,  and  both 
stood  before  Him,  men  and  Angels,  Spirits  and  flesh,  yet 
upon  our  nature  He  bestowed  a  dignity  which  upon  theirs 
He  did  not,  that  is,  did  more  for  us  than  He  did  for  the 
Angels  of  heaven  ;  what  greater  piety  could  He  express  Heb.  2. 16. 
towards  us  ?  Besides,  how  great  an  honour  our  flesh  itself, 
which,  as  low  and  mean  as  He  found  it,  He  made  then,  and 
will  make  it  hereafter,  far  greater  and  more  glorious  than 
all  the  greatness  and  glory  of  the  world  can  yield  it;  for' 
though  He  took  it  in  a  low  estate  to-day,  yet  within  a  few 
days  after.  He  had  kings  and  princes  to  fall  down  before  it;  Mat. 2. ii. 
and  after  them  He  had  Moses  and  Elias  to  wait  upon  it,  Mat.  17. 3. 
when  He  made  it  shine  like  the  sun  in  His  brightness ;  and 
when  He  had  done  with  it  here  on  earth  He  carried  it  up 
with  Him  into  His  high  kingdom  of  heaven,  never  left  it 
till  He  had  gotten  it  above  the  Angels,  higher  than  the 
cherubins  and  the  seraphins  themselves ;  which,  as  it  is  an 
earnest  how  much  He  will  do  for  ours  also  hereafter,  so  it 
ought  to  be  a  special  motive  and  attractive  to  us  all,  that 
this  mystery  of  His  great  goodness  may  work  upon  us  and 
prove  in  us  the  mystery  of  our  great  godliness  ;  which  is  the 
point  that  we  reserved  to  be  the  last  of  all. 

IV.  And  this  point  is  as  needful  for  us  as  any  of  the  rest, 
for  without  this,  all  the  former  points  of  speculation,  which 
I  set  forth  before  in  their  order,  will  do  us  no  good.  We 
use  indeed  to  hear  such  points  the  more  willingly,  because 
they  take  nothing  from  us ;  they  were  all  matter  of  benefit, 
and  good  tidings  coming  together  with  this  day  to  us.  But 
our  matter  of  duty  for  all  this,  that  we  may  be  the  better 
for  Christ's  birth,  as  He  was  God  here  manifest  in  the  flesh, 
we  have  not  yet. 

!^oints  of  speculation  and  benefit  are  otherwhiles  good  and 


320  Practical  lessons  from  the  doctrine. 

SEEM,  useful  for  us  in  their  season,  as  I  hope  these  have  been  now ; 

: —  but  points  of  duty  and  practice  are  more  behoveful  for  us 

all ;  and  I  pray  God  this  last  may  find  that  effect  among  us. 
"We  have  seen  yesterday  ^  what  Christ  hath  done  for  us ;  let 
us  see  now  another  while,  what  we  will  do  for  Him.  For 
our  part  belongs  to  the  mystery  of  godliness. 

To  which,  if  this  mystery  of  Christ,  Christ's  coming  to  us 
in  the  flesh,  works  not  in  us,  the  fruit  of  all  His  work  is 
lost  towards  ourselves,  and  we  keep  no  such  feast  for  Him  as 
both  He  and  His  Church  truly  intended  it. 

There  is,  as  I  began  to  say,  in  the  world  a  great  mystery 
of  iniquity  and  a  trade  of  ungodliness,  which  is  at  work  all 
the  year  long ;  a  mystery  of  ungodly  and  worldly  lusts  in 
the  flesh,  that  are  never  at  rest;  and  Christ's  coming  into 
the  world  was  to  put  down  that  trade  and  set  up  another. 
1  Joh.  3. 8.  For  this  cause,  saith  St.  John,  did  Christ  appear  in  the  flesh, 
that  He  might  destroy  the  works  of  the  flesh  j  he  gives  them 
a  worse  name,  and  calls  them  the  works  of  the  devil,  which 
is  the  great  trade  and  mystery  of  all  iniquity. 

But  the  mystery  of  Christ  is  quite  another  profession; 
teaching  us  so  to  live  in  the  flesh  that  we  may  live  to  Him 
and  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  to  live  so  in  it  that 
we  may  die  to  it ;  which  then  we  do  when  we  destroy  and 
kill  the  unlawful  deeds  of  it,  when  we  live  to  God  and  die  to 
sin.  This  is  the  mystery  of  godliness,  and  the  whole  scope 
of  Christ's  coming  into  the  world. 

For  I  demand,  when  He  took  upon  Him  to  deliver  man, 
as  we  say  every  day  in  our  Te  Deum,  from  what  was  it? 
and  to  what  end  was  it  that  we  were  delivered  ?  Were  we 
delivered  from  the  hands  of  justice,  that  we  might  return 
back  to  our  old  sins  and  bands  of  iniquity  ?  but  that  were  to 
throw  us  and  deliver  us  over  into  the  hands  of  justice  again, 
where  we  should  meet  with  seven  evil  spirits  worse  than  the 
former,  and  render  our  latter  estate  more  miserable  than  it 
was  at  first.  This  was  not  it.  Then  to  what  end  were  we 
delivered  ?  Was  it  that  we  might  bless  ourselves  for  so  fair 
an  escape,  and  cry  out  against  those  that  had  brought  us  into 
our  former  thraldom  ?  Or  was  it  that  we  might  bless  the 
sight  of  the  Son  of  God  for  it  in  His  Mother's  arms,  and 

''  1  Joh.  4 ;  being  the  second  lesson  for  Christinas  Eve. 


The  object  of  Christ's  incarnation.  321 

keep  a  feast  of  joy  and  honour  to  Him  upon  the  day  of  His 

nativity  ?  Surely  all  this,  if  well  ordered,  may  well  be  done 

by  us,  and  all  upon  good  ground,  we  have  reason  to  do  it ; 

but  all  this  is  not  the  end  for  which  He  came  into  the  world 

to  deliver  us.     The  end  was,  that  besides  the  sayiug  of  a 

Benedictus  to  Him,  or  keeping  a  festival  for  Him,  we  should 

for  this  deliverance  serve  Him  all  the  days  of  our  life.     And 

how  serve  Him  ?  in  sanctitate  etjustitia;  that  is,  in  holiness  Lu.  i.  75. 

to  God,  and  righteousness  to  one  another. 

This  is  our  trade  and  our  mystery  of  godliness ;  we  are 
bound  apprentices  to  it  all  the  years  of  our  life,  from  one 
Christmas  to  another,  from  the  font  to  the  funeral,  from  our 
nativity  to  our  dissolution ;  for  the  indentures  are  drawn, 
no  sooner  delivered  but  bound  again  presently ;  no  sooner 
Christ  born,  but  at  the  very  same  time  there  goes  out  a 
commandment  from  Him,  as  well  as  Augustus  Caesar,  that  La.  2.  i. 
all  the  earth  should  be  taxed  to  pay  Him  this  service. 

Look  into  your  Benedictus,  which  is  a  hymn  that  we  are 
appointed  to  say  daily  at  our  devotions,  in  recognition  and 
honour  of  this  day's  nativity  ;  there  are  a  sort '  of  mysteries  in  'a  coUec- 
it,  of  *  visiting/  and  *  redeeming,'  and  '  raising,'  and  *  saving,' 
and  *  delivering  His  people ;'  but  there  is  never  a  full  stop 
in  it  till  ye  come  to  this  mystery  of  serving  Him  in  a  godly 
and  righteous  manner  of  living ;  till  we  come  there,  all  is 
suspended.  It  is  the  mystery  of  godliness  that  makes  the 
conclusion. 

So  you  see  how  this  mystery  works  all  the  way. 

It  is  the  property  of  a  mystery,  that  what  it  works  upon 
it  makes,  or  intends  to  make,  like  itself  So  do  the  sacra- 
ments ;  for  they  are  mysteries,  a  part  of  this  mystery  of 
godliness ;  mysteries,  if  they  work  upon  them  that  come  to 
receive  them  ;  and  if  they  work  not,  they  are  but  mere  cere- 
monies ;  something  they  signify,  but  the  power  and  effect  of 
them  is  lost.  So  is  it  in  Christ's  nativity  ;  so  in  this  mystery 
of  piety.  Great  mysteries  in  themselves,  but  like  to  prove 
none  to  us,  if  they  breed  not  the  same  quality  in  us  that 
they  carry  in  their  own  nature.  If  it  be  but  a  fjb6p(f)0)ats,  2  Tim.3. 5. 
as  St.  Paul  calls  it,  and  an  outward  show  of  godliness,  the 
mystery  and  the  substance  of  it  that  should  do  us  any  good 
is  clean  vanished,  and  retires  back  again  to  itself. 


322  Influence  of  the  doctrine  upon  our  conduct. 

SEEM.       God  will  have  that  manifest  and  real  in  us  which  was 

XXII. 

'—  manifest  and  true  in  Him.     That  whether  we  celebrate  the 

feast  of  His  taking  our  flesh,  or  the  feast  of  our  taking  His, 
they  may  both  tend  to  the  manifest  and  powerful  operation 
of  this  piety  in  the  text  upon  us ;  to  lead  a  life  that  may  be 

iTim.  2. 2.  somewhat  like  to  His,  Whose  name  we  bear,  in  all  godliness 
and  honesty. 

For  when  all  is  done,  the  greatest  honour  that  we  can  do 
to  this  flesh  of  ours,  which  He  hath  now  taken  to  Himself 
and  made  all  one  with  His  own  flesh,  is  to  keep  it  in  such 
cleanness  and  purity  as  may  best  beseem  the  flesh  of  the  Son 
of  God  ;  so  free  from  soil,  so  washed  and  purged  from  all 
unhallowed  employments,  that  at  least  those  manifesta  opera 

Gal.  5. 19.  carnis,  the  vices  of  the  flesh  which  are  manifest  and  will  be 
quickly  seen  with  His  eyes,  may  never  appear  in  it  before 
Him.  There  are  many  of  them  in  the  Apostle's  catalogue, 
that  no  man  may  imagine  he  reflected  upon  one  alone.  For 
the  proud  and  envious  man,  the  uncharitable  and  malicious 
man,  the  unreligious  and  profane  person,  and  a  dozen  of 
them  more,  are  as  fleshly  there  in  His  account,  as  either  the 
intemperate  or  the  incontinent  persons  be  ;  they  are  all  alike, 
the  one  as  manifest  lusters  after  the  sins  and  vices  of  the 
flesh  as  the  other,  all  unworthy  of  any  Christian ;  specially 
to  be  so  manifestly  seen,  so  often  practised,  so  seldom  re- 
proved, so  indifferently  passed  by  and  unregarded  as  they 
are ;  but  all  alike  enemies  to  the  mystery  of  godliness,  which 
we  are  set  in  this  flesh  of  ours  (for  His  sake  Who  was  to-day 
born  in  that  flesh)  to  advance,  to  encourage,  and  to  magnify 
before  them  all. 

And  in  so  doing  we  shall  be  advanced  ourselves,  flesh  and 
all,  from  this  great  mystery  of  godliness,  where  the  text  be- 
gins, to  the  great  mystery  of  glory,  where  the  verse  ends. 

To  which  He  bring  us,  That  in  our  flesh  is  gone  up 
thither  before  us,  Jesus  Christ  the  righteous;  to  Whom 
with  His  blessed  Father,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  three  Persons, 
and  one  eternal  Deity,  be  all  honour,  and  power,  and  praise, 
now  and  for  ever.     Amen, 


APPENDIX. 


y2 


APPENDIX  1/ 


AT  DURHAM  HOUSE,  5  JAN.  DIE  DOlOinCO,  1622-[23."] 

m   VIGILIA   EPIPHANI^. 

St.  Matthew  ii.  1,  2. 

Now  when  Jesus  was  bom  in  Bethlem  of  Judea,  in  the  days  of 
Herod  the  king,  Behold  there  came  wise  men  from  the  east 
to  Jerusalem. 

Saying,  Where  is  He  That  is  born  king  of  the  Jews  ?  for 
we  have  seen  His  star  in  the  east,  and  are  come  to  wor- 
ship Him. 

Because  we  love  to  speak  tempestivb,  I  confess  this  text 
comes  a  day  too  soon,  but  yet  we  shall  not  break  square 
through  much  in  taking  of  it ;  for  howsoever  it  be  now  out 
of  use,  the  old  ^  Church  accounted  so  highly  of  the  feast  of 
our  Saviour*8  Epiphany,  as  for  the  more  honour  of  it  they 
had  a  solemn  service  in  their  churches  the  day  before;  and 
all  about  that  only.  So  in  choosing  this  text  to-day,  a  day 
before  his  proper  season,  we  shall  do  no  more  than  what  hath 
been  done  before  us.  And  I  cannot  see  how  we  should  have 
chosen  better;  for  to  have  taken  a  text  that  nothing  con- 
cerned the  time,  as  some  of  our  new  brethren  use  to  do,  had 
been  a  dishonour  to  the  feast.  And  to  have  looked  for  the 
Gospel  of  the  day  had  been  to  lose  our  labour,  for  there  is 
never  a  Gospel  for  it ;  you  see  the  time  falls  out  so  as  we  are 
fain  to  go  four  days  backward  for  a  Gospel,  and  supply  it 

with  that  of  the  Circumcision,  which  we  used  upon  New-  lu.  2. 15- 

21. 
»  See  p.  1.  of  the  present  volume.         ''  See  Bingham,  xx.  4.  §  8,  and  Suicer. 
Thesaur.,  torn.  i.  p.  1201. 


326  Fragment  of  a  sermon 

Append.   Year^s-day.     Now  as  that  Grospel  brought  us  back  to  the 

3^^ memory  of  that  day,  so  will  this  carry  us  forward  to  this 

feast,  the  Epiphany  of  our  Lord,  that  we  might  be  the 
better  prepared  to  the  celebration  of  it ;  and  for  this  pur- 
pose I  have  chosen  it. 

And  because  we  have  chosen  it  for  that  end,  it  will  not  be 
amiss  to  say  a  little  of  the  day,  before  we  come  to  the  text, 
that  you  may  the  more  esteem  of  the  greatness  of  it. 

We  are  still  then  at  the  feast  of  Christmas,  for  the  twelve 

days  are  not  done  yet  which  all  attend  upon  it,  but  to-morrow 

is  the  last  and  great  day  of  the  feast,  as  St.  John  spake  of 

Joh.  7.  37.  another,  *  In  the  last  and  great  day  of  the  feast,  Jesus  stood 

up,'  &c.     It  has  been  indeed  a  feast  of  joy  to  us  all  this 

while,  we  cannot  but  have  sense  of  it,  but  our  fulness  of  joy 

»until         comes  not  while  ^  now ;  for  all  this  while  it  has  been  Evan- 

Lu.  2. 10.    ggii^o  vobis,   tidings  of  joy  which  the  Angels   brought  to 

« Judsea      shepherds  in  Jury^  only,  men  hard  at  hand;  but  now  upon 

this  feast  it  is  omni  populo,  news  which  the  star  brought  to  all 

Acts  28.      the  world,  and  to  us  too,  that  now  salvation  was  come  unto 

28 

the  Gentiles.  So,  to  say  well,  to-morrow  would  be  our  true 
Christmas-day,  that  were  Gentiles  ;  for  howsoever  Christ  was 
born  eleven  days  since  among  the  Jews,  yet  He  came  not 
abroad  among  the  Gentiles  till  now,  and  so  seemed  unborn 
to  them  till  He  was  this  day  made  known  and  manifest  to 
them  in  the  persons  of  these  wise  men ;  which  was  the  reason 
that  the  Catholic  Church  hath  ever  so  highly  accounted  of 
this  feast  and  made  it  the  greatest  of  all  the  twelve,  as  being 
the  chief  and  proper  feast  of  the  Gentiles,  such  as,  God  wot, 
we  all  were  before  the  news  of  this  day  came.  And  besides 
the  religious  observation  that  the  good  Christians  had  of  it, 
the  emperors  ^  themselves  in  their  edicts  have  made  it  by  law, 
for  fear  people's  devotion  should  cool,  to  be  ranked  with  the 
days  of  Christ's  nativity  and  His  resurrection,  to  be  held  in 
Joh.  7.  37.  the  same  honour  as  these  two  are.  So  because  St.  John  said 
the  last  day  of  the  feast  was  the  greatest,  I  did  not  amiss  at 
first  to  call  this  the  great  and  last  day  of  our  Christmas 
solemnity,  that  we  now  do  celebrate.  Last,  you  see  it  is,  by 
the  order  of  the  Church,  and  great  withal ;  for  the  great  and 

'  The    Theodosian    and    Justinian      to  this  effect,  are  quoted  by  Bingham, 
codes,  and  the  laws  of  the  Visigoths,      xx.  4.  §  8. 


upon  the  Epiphany.  327 

wide  world  became  the  better  for  it,  and  was  blessed  upon 
it  with  the  Day-star  from  on  high,  the  glad  tidings  of  the  Lu.  l.  78. 
Gospel  and  of  a  Saviour's  nativity.  Nay,  at  this  day  came 
Christ's  divinity  to  be  known,  for  before  now  there  was  little 
talk  or  heed  of  any  thing  but  of  His  humanity  only,  born  in 
the  flesh  upon  Christmas-day,  and  circumcised  in  the  flesh 
of  New-Year's-day.  But  upon  Twelfth-day  now  His  God- 
head shewed  itself  from  heaven ;  and  therefore  as  we  have 
had  all  this  time  to  meditate  upon  His  coming  in  the  flesh 
That  was  God,  so  now  the  Church  would  have  us  meditate 
upon  His  being  God  That  was  come  in  the  flesh;  to  turn 
ourselves  from  His  humanity  below  to  His  divinity  above ; 
to  behold  it,  not  with  our  eyes — for  His  divinity  cannot  be 
seen — but  by  such  heavenly  signs  as  He  sent  unto  us  for 
that  purpose,  the  star  in  the  firmament. 

For  because  we  will  be  sure  to  make  our  feast  to-morrow 
a  great  and  a  high  day,  higher  than  the  rest,  if  this  appear- 
ing first  from  heaven  to  the  wise  men  will  not  do  it,  we  have 
two  or  three  more  Epiphanies  made  upon  it,  of  that  eminency 
that  they  would  make  high  days  of  themselves ;  for  this  day, 
saith  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen  ^,  was  Christ  also  baptized  for  us 
in  Jordan,  and  therefore  he  calls  his  oration  '  De  baptisraate 
Christi,'  Epiphania  Domini,  and  the  Greek  menologies*'  call 
it  the  day  of  His  holy  baptism ;  and  so  went  the  ancient 
service  of  the  Church ;  and  accordingly  our  second  lesson  at 
morning  prayer  to-morrow,  where  the  story  of  His  baptism 
is  read  upon  purpose.  So  before,  He  was  shewed  as  born  Lu.  3.  i— 
to  us  upon  this  day,  and  now  He  is  baptized  also. 

And  so  much  for  the  day,  which  deserved  to  have  some- 
what said  of  it,  that  so  solemn  a  time  might  not  pass  over 
our  head  without  some  special  regard  of  it.  And  now  I 
come  to  the  text. 

The  first  verse  will  be  all  we  shall  get  done  to-day,  and 
here  we  have  to  consider, 

(I.)  A  journey  undertaken  from  east  to  west,  a  pilgrimage 
to  Jerusalem ;  *  there  came  from  the  east  to  Jerusalem.* 

(II.)  Next,  what  they  were  that  came ;  no  poor  silly  pil- 
grims, or  persons  of  mean  quality,  but  the  sages,  the  wise 

**  S.  Greg.  Nyssen.  0pp.,  torn.  iii.  *  See    Gear's    Rituale    Graecorum, 

p.  366.  p.  467.  edit.  1647. 


328 


Fragment  of  a  sermon 


Append. 
I. 


1  Kings 
10.1. 


Prov.  15. 
23. 


and  great  men  of  their  country.  Ecce  magi  venerunt,  *  There 
came  wise  men.* 

(III.)  Let  us  take  in  the  end  of  their  coming  too ;  they 
came  to  enquire  after  Christ;  and  then,  the  suddenness  of 
their  coming ;  presently,  as  soon  as  He  was  born. 

(lY.)  And  lastly,  we  may  add  the  wonder,  to  them  all, 
Ecce, '  Behold,'  a  matter  worth  the  wondering  at ;  for  indeed 
they  be  all  strange  things.  For  take  them  all  together,  and 
the  queen  of  the  south,  that  came  to  see  Solomon,  was 
nothing  to  be  admired  as  these  kings  of  the  east  that  came 
to  see  Christ,  for  she  came  to  see  and  hear,  and  they  to 
worship  besides;  she  to  see  Solomon,  they  saying,  '"Where 
is  He  that  is  born  King  of  the  Jews  ?  for  we  have  seen  His 
star  in  the  east,  and  are  come  to  worship  Him.' 

We  begin  then  with  the  words ;  and  we  will  take  them  as 
they  lay  here  in  the  text,  which  will  bring  in  all  the  parts  of 
the  division  well  enough. 

When  He  was  born,  then,  that  is  the  first ;  we  shall  have 
nothing  to  do  but  with  the  word  '  when;'  for  the  words  that 
follow,  '  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem,  in  the  days  of  Herod 
the  king,'  will  fit  the  day  of  His  nativity  better  some  other 
time.  Cum  natus,  '  then,'  when  Christ  was  come  to  the  world, 
we  presently  read  that  these  Gentiles  came  to  Him  ;  for 
likely  as  soon  as  ever  they  saw  the  star  upon  Christmas- day 
morning,  they  set  out  betimes,  and  by  this  day  had  got  to 
Jerusalem ;  which  makes  the  text  once  more  proper  for  the 
day.  For  if  they  were  this  day  at  Jerusalem,  and  we  this 
day  speaking  of  their  journey  and  coming  thither,  I  hope  we 
shall  keep  Solomon's  rule,  speak  words  in  season.  'When' 
He  was  born,  then.  Before  Christ  was  born  we  read  of  few 
or  none  that  came  to  enquire  after  [Him,]  specially  among 
the  Gentiles;  but  now  He  is  born  they  come  from  the 
furthest  part  of  the  world.  Before  Christ  came  Himself, 
admonishing  them  with  this  star,  the  sinful  Gentiles,  God 
knows,  had  no  heart  to  come  of  themselves.    For  as  long,  &c. 

So  much  for  the  time  '  when'  Jesus  was  born.  When  He 
was  born,  'Behold  there  came  wise  men  from  the  east  to 
Jerusalem.'  '  Behold,'  first,  no  ordinary  matter,  sure,  but 
a  thing,  &c. 


upon  the  Epiphany.  329 


*  Wise  men/  magi,  kings.  There  be  two  or  three  mysteries 
in  these  words,  which  I  would  have  you  know ;  and  then  I 
have  done  with  their  persons.  You  see  then  they  are  great 
men,  princes ;  and  sinful  men,  magi,  Gentiles ;  and  that  their 
coming  was  after  the  shepherds  too,  for  they  had  been  with 
Christ  above  ten  days  since.  Will  you  know  the  meaning  of 
all  this  ?  Why  the  Jews  were  near,  and  these  afar  off  at  the 
east?  That  is  nothing.  The  Jews  were  near  to  God,  His 
own  people ;  the  Gentiles,  we,  all  strangers,  &c. 

And  now  we  have  done  with  the  persons,  we  come  to  their 
pilgrimage.  They  came  *  from  the  east.'  I  will  not  trouble 
you,  &c. 

'From  the  east.*  A  great  way  oflf,  sure,  wheresoever  it 
was.  Not  from  the  next  town,  or  a  village  hard  by;  but 
a  long,  from  far,  like  the  Ethiopian  in  the  Acts,  whom  some  Acts  8. 27. 
think  they  sent  afterwards,  that  came  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth  to  worship  at  Jerusalem.  And  here  the  Ecce!  the 
wonder,  will  be  set  up  best  of  all.  'Behold,  there  came 
from  the  east.*  A  hard  journey  sure  they  had,  says  St. 
Chrysostom^,  for  consider  the  particulars.  It  was  a  long, 
first;  many  an  hundred  miles  to  go,  and  many  a  weary 
step  to  take.  We  would  have  been  tired  betimes,  and 
never  have  held  out  a  quarter  of  the  way  to  Christ,  if  we 
were  to  seek  Him  so  far. 

Then,  secondly,  it  was  no  comfortable  way,  but  through 
sandy  and  desert  places,  as  the  geographers  describe  their 
way,  which  men  have  little  heart  to  go  through. 

And,  thirdly,  it  was  no  plain  way,  neither ;  hills  and  moun- 
tains, saith  St.Ciirysostom,  all  the  way. 

And,  lastly,  after  all  this,  it  was  no  safe  way,  and  that  was 
worst  of  all;  full  of  wild  beasts,  and  full  of  wild  men  too  ;  the 
hills  of  the  robbers,  that  David  speaks  on,  were  there ;  and  Cant.  4. 

8  (?) 

so  they  are  at  this  day,  nothing  but  dangers  by  the  way. 

And  yet  through  all  these  diflficulties  they  came  to  Christ, 
and  made  haste  too ;  for  you  see  they  got  to  Him  in  twelve 
days.   Now  the  least  of  these  lets  would  keep  us  from  coming 

'  S.Chrysost.  i.  499;  vii.  111.  edit.  Benedict, 


330  Fragment  of  a  sermon,  S^c. 

Append,   to  Christ.     If  the  ways  to  Him  be  tedious,  or  desolate,  or 

'- dangerous,  why  then,  no  coming  with  us ;  we  must  have  it 

short,  and  pleasant,  and  fair  and  easy ;  and  very  easy  too,  if 
we  lose  any  thing  by  it ;  or  else  we  will  be  such  wise  men  as 
will  keep  at  home.  A  strange  thing  that  heathen,  that  dwell 
at  the  world's  end,  &c. 


APPENDIX   II. 


If  my  speeches  be  but  short  upon  this  subject  of  mortality, 
it  will  be  never  a  whit  the  worse ;  nor  the  worse  for  you, 
who  endure  no  sad  speeches  especially  to  be  long,  nor  the 
unfitter  for  me,  to  whom  neither  this  object  nor  this  subject, 
if  it  might  have  been  otherwise,  can  be  very  pleasing. 

But  since  a  necessity  is  laid  upon  me,  as  St.  Paul  said  in  iCor.9.i6. 
another  case,  I  have  left  my  passion  and  nearer  relations  at 
home,  and  I  am  come  hither  to  do  the  last  oflBce  I  shall  ever 
perform  to  my  own  **  loving  and  dear  sister  on  earth,  now, 
I  doubt  not,  a  glorious  saint  in  heaven. 

Nor  was  this  of  old  out  of  fashion,  though  my  relations 
were  yet  nearer  than  they  are ;  somewhat  unusual  they  were, 
but  St.  Austin  <=  did  as  much  for  his  mother,  and  St.  Gregory 
Nazianzen  '^  for  his  own  father ;  and  who  knows  not  that 
amongst  the  Romans  the  next  of  kin  did  pro  rostris  laudare, 
praise  the  deceased  *  ? 

And  yet  I  come  not  so  much  to  praise  as  to  preach  j  not 
so  much  to  commend  her  as  to  commend  unto  you  the 
meditation  of  her  life  and  death,  and  the  contemplation  of 
a  better  life,  for  which  she  hath  now  exchanged  that  which 

■  It  would  appear  that  the  sennon  this  literal  signification,  as  will  appear 
preached  by  Cosiu  upon  the  funeral  of  from  what  is  afterwards  mentioned  con- 
Mrs.  Dorothy  Holmes  (printed  p.  24.)  cerning  the  family  of  the  deceased, 
had  suggested  the  leading  idea  of  the  "=  S.  Augustini   0pp.,    i.    123.    edit, 
present   fragment,    which    appears    to  fol.  Ant.  1700. 

have  been  used  upon  an  occasion  some-  ''  Orat  xix.  0pp.,  i.  286.  edit.  fol. 
what  similar.     It  is  without  date,  but  Paris.,  1630.     See  other  instances  no- 
judging    from  the  style  of  the  hand-  ticed  by  Bingham,  xxiii.  3.  §  10. 
writing  it  was  probably  preached  some-           *  See  P.  Morestelli  Pompa  Feralis, 
where  between  the  years  1030  and  1635.  sive  Justa  Funebria  Veterum,  ap.  Graev. 

''  These  words  must  not  be  taken  in  Thesaur.Antiqq.  Rom.  tom.xii.p.  1405. 


332  .         Fragment  of  a  funeral  sermon. 

Append,   she  had  here  among  us.     And  therefore  I  shall  entreat  your 
'- attention  to  the  words  of  the  Apostle  \ 

We  are  come  hither  to  perform  a  double  duty  to  our  dear 
sister  departed ;  one,  to  commit  her  body  to  the  ground, 
there  to  be  laid  up  with  honour,  as  in  a  bed  of  rest  and 
peace,  until  it  shall  be  awaked  up  again  to  glory ;  another 
to  commend  her  good  name  and  memory  to  the  world,  which, 
like  a  box  of  precious  ointment  shed  among  us  all,  hath  left 
so  sweet  a  perfume  behind  it  that  our  houses  are  filled  with 
the  odour  of  it ;  and  though  she  be  dead,  yet  shall  she  thus 
live  with  us  still,  and  be  had  in  remembrance  of  us  all. 

Ps.  49. 10.  There  are  indeed,  who  die  and  perish  altogether,  as  the 
Psalmist  speaks,  that  have  left  nothing  behind  them  which 
is  worth  the  remembering,  and  therefore  are  clean  forgotten 
and  gone  out  of  mind  as  soon  almost  as  they  are  gone  out 
of  the  world.     But  others  there  be,  saith  the  Preacher,  who 

Eccl.  7. 1.  have  been  well  reported  of  in  their  times,  and  have  left  a 
name  behind  them  that  ought  not  to  be  forgotten ;  and  such 
examples  of  Christianity  and  piety,  that  they  ought  to  be 

Ps.  112.  6.  had  in  continual  remembrance.     In  which  number  I  reckon 
this  our  dear  sister  (here  before  us,)  and  saint  deceased. 
Concerning  whom,  therefore,  ye  shall  give  me  your  good 

Mark  14. 3.  leave  to  break  her  box  of  spikenard  among  you,  to  fill  this 
place  with  some  part  of  that  sweet  perfume  which  she  hath 
left  behind  her. 

Wherein,  because  as  Phavorinus  once  said,  Facit  male  qui 
laudat  frigide^,  *he  does  not  well  that  commends  one  coldly, 
truly  I  would  as  gladly,  as  I  might  very  justly,  enlarge  my- 
self in  this  theme  of  setting  forth  her  virtue  and  goodness. 

But  straightened  as  I  am,  I  must  of  force  straighten  my 
speech  of  her  also,  and  give  you  what  I  have  to  say  in  few 
words. 

And  a  few  words  will  suffice  for  her,  of  whom  if  we  would 
endeavour  any  long  panegyric,  any  of  you  might  stop  me  as 
the  philosopher  did  him  that  went  about  with  many  words 

^  No  text  is  given  in  the  manuscript,  k    Turpius   esse   dicebat   Favorinus 

but  from  some  expressions  which  are  philosophus,  exigue  atque  frigide  lau- 

employed  it   probably  was  2    Cor,  v.  dari,  quam  insectanter  et  graviter  vitu- 

1,2:'  For  we  know  that  if  our  earthly  perari. — Aul.  Gell.  Noct.  Attic,  xix.  3. 

house,'  &c.  p.  837.  edit.  Lug.  Bat.  1706. 


Fragment  of  a  funeral  sermon.  333 

to  commend  one  of  whom  the  world  had  never  spoken  but 
well,  Quis  illam  unguam  vituperavit  ?  '  who  ever  discom- 
mended her,'  or  can  say  she  did  wilfully  wrong  to  any? 
Her  virtues  and  Christian  demeanour  had  the  love  of  all, 
and  her  loss  hath  now  the  grief  of  many,  though  this  grief 
be  unseasonable,  in  regard  of  the  great  happiness  wherewith 
she  is  now,  no  doubt,  blessed  for  ever. 

Look  then  on  yonder  tabernacle  now  taken  down  and  put 
into  a  coffin ;  look  upon  yon  clasped  book  of  mortality,  and 
read  there ;  let  it,  like  Philip's  morning  ^  remembrance,  tell 
you  of  the  vain  confidence  of  your  present  health,  your 
young  and  vigorous  days,  your  sound  and  able  constitutions 
of  body.  See  how  soon  the  tent  is  taken  down  ;  and  therein 
let  us  all  see  how  vain  a  thing  we  trust  to,  how  weak  a  reed 
we  lean  on,  when  we  trust  and  lean  upon  this  crazy  life. 

This  last  week  that  dead  corpse  visited  the  sick ;  then  was 
she  in  perfect  health,  and  yet,  behold,  now  gone  before  them. 

I  name  the  suddenness  of  her  departure,  first,  because  it 
most  affected  us  concerning  herself;  and  I  wish  it  might 
most  instruct  us  concerning  our  own  selves,  that  each  hour 
may  be  spent  on  the  thoughts  of  our  end,  and  that  we 
may  at  all  hours  be  ready,  as  she  was,  for  Him  That  calls 
us  away. 

For  let  no  rash  censure  hence  disparage  her  Christian  pre- 
paration for  death,  because  she  wanted  those  long  and  linger- 
ing summons  which  many  others  use  to  have.  For  her  whole 
life  was,  as  ours  should  be,  no  great  thoughts  of  this  world, 
but  a  constant  expectation  and  preparation  for  a  better. 

For  her  descent  and  parentage,  if  that  may  be  any  addi- 
tion to  her  praise,  (though  I  confess  that  he  that  boasts  of 
his  birth  brags  of  that  which  is  none  of  his  own),  yet  a  bless- 
ing of  God  it  is  when  it  is  more  eminent  than  others. 

And  parents  she  had  both  eminent  and  honourable ;  her 
father  a  bishop ',  her  mother  of  good  race  and  gentry.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  a  prophet,  him  that  lately  sat  here  in 
this  episcopal  throne  :  and  that  was  ever  accounted  honour- 


'■  Apparently  an  allusion  to  the  at-  '  As   Cosin    has    not  informed    us 

tendant  who  daily  addressed  the  mon-  where  this  sermon  was  preached,  we 

arch    with   these  words — '  Remember  are  unable  to   avail   ourselves  of  the 

that  thou  art  mortal.'  clue  afforded  by  these  words. 


334  Fragment  of  a  funeral  sermon. 

Append,  able,  saith  Sidonius  Apollinaris,  in  his  praise  of  Simplicius, 
^^'       and  vouches  it  by  Scripture;  telling  us  that  St. Luke,  when 


Lu.  1. 5. 


he  entered  upon  the  praise  of  St.  John  Baptist,  held  him  the 
more  honourable  for  that  he  was  descended  of  the  priests' 
race.  Et  nobilitatem  vita  pradicaturus,  prius  tamen  extulit 
famili(B  dignitatem;  'being  to  praise  the  nobleness  of  his 
life,  he  did  first  set  forth  the  worthiness  of  his  line  ^.' 

But  of  this  gentlewoman,  our  dear  sister,  I  may  say,  as 
St.  Jerome  ^  did  of  Paula,  the  holy  Eoman  lady,  she  was 
nobilis  genere,  sed  nobilior  sanctitate,  *  noble  in  race  and 
parentage,  more  noble  in  grace  and  holiness.' 

Truly  her  good  life,  and  not  her  birth,  had  it  been  more 
great  than  it  was,  made  her  truly  considerable.  And  herein 
detraction  itself  dares  not  deny  her  her  due. 

For  her  virtuous  and  pious  disposition,  which  I  will  com- 
mend in  her  and  commend  to  you,  this  I  may  say,  that  her 
Mat.  25.4.  care  and  study  was  like  that  of  the  wise  virgins,  ever  to 
keep  the  oil  of  piety  burning  in  the  lamp  of  her  soul.  The 
oracles  of  God  were  as  ornaments  to  her  ears,  and  the  at- 
tendance of  His  service,  with  the  performance  of  many  other 
Christian  duties,  were  as  bracelets  to  her  hands,  and  in  more 
esteem  with  her  than  all  other  vanities  of  the  world. 

From  whence  ye  may  gather  what  her  education  was,  that 
religious  it  was  and  virtuous,  tending  to  all  things  that  might 
produce  in  her  the  effects  and  works  of  a  godly,  righteous 
and  sober  life;  which  is  the  sum  of  all  Christian  religion. 

Her  disposition,  how  sweet  and  gentle  it  was,  her  demean- 
our, how  modest  and  affable,  her  words  and  deeds,  how  fair 
and  inoffensive  they  were,  I  need  not  say  j  they  that  knew 
her  well  and  conversed  with  her,  will  ever  say  it  for  me. 

Let  this  be  one  note  of  her  more  than  ordinary  goodness. 
Her  mother,  though  a  grave  and  severe  gentlewoman  in  the 
education  of  her  children,  hath  often  professed  that  she  could 
never  take  her  so  much  as  with  an  oath  or  a  false  relation  of 
any  thing,  or  any  other  gross  fault  of  cursing,  self-will,  or 
stubbornness,  in  all  her  life. 

She  was  first,  a  virgin  full  of  modesty  and  constancy; 
afterwards  a  wife,  tender,  loving,  and  obedient  to  her  hus- 

^  See  Gallandii  Bibl.  Patr.,  torn.  x.  '  S.  Hieron.  Ep.  xxvii.  inter  0pp., 

p.  525.  torn.  i.  p.  72.  edit.  Ant.  1578. 


Fragment  of  a  funeral  sermon.  335 

band ;  so  careful  for  him  that  to  shew  her  daily  regard  towards 
him,  she  was  careless  either  of  her  own  will,  or  ease,  or  plea- 
sure in  any  thing  ;  which  we  have,  as  of  our  own  observation 
of  her  while  she  was  alive,  so  from  the  free  and  voluntary 
confession  of  him,  both  before  and  since  her  death.  One 
that  never  was  heard  to  have  given  any  unkind  or  disre- 
spectful word  in  all  her  days;  and  continued  her  love  and 
regard  to  him,  even  in  her  latest  sickness,  to  the  last. 
Neither  did  her  love  to  him  make  her  forgetful  of  a  greater 
and  far  higher  love,  her  holy  regard  that  she  ought  to  God. 

So  sudden  and  violent  a  sickness  as  befel  her  would  have 
driven  many  of  us  to  impatience ;  yet  from  the  first  to  the 
last  she  was  not  heard  to  utter  any  word  which  might  any 
ways  misbeseem  the  humility  and  patience  of  a  good  aud 
well-grounded  Christian. 

In  the  very  extremity  of  her  disease  she  would  always 
freely  resign  herself  to  tlie  pleasure  of  Almighty  God,  and 
heartily  invoke  the  comfort  of  our  Saviour  Christ  Jesus. 
When  they  came  and  prayed  God  to  strengthen  her,  her 
answer  was,  '  Yea,  strengthen  her  faith,'  (whereof  she  had 
more  care,)  *if  not  her  body,'  whereof  she  had  less. 

And  to  give  you  a  testimony  of  this  care  of  her  soul ;  being 
desired  by  her  husband,  at  the  beginning  of  her  sickness,  to 
remove  into  a  warmer  room  and  to  change  it  for  a  better,  her 
reply  was  all  holy  and  heavenly,  with  prayer  that  God  would 
grant  her  patience,  and  that  then  she  should  expect  a  better 
change,  when  God  should  remove  her  into  His  own  chamber, 
this  house  here  and  building  of  God,  not  made  with  hands,  2  Cor.  5. 1. 
but  eternal  in  the  heavens ;  and  should  change  her  vile  body 
and  make  it  like  to  His  glorious  body  for  ever.  Phil.  3.  21. 

And  after  her  speech  failed  her,  yet  did  she  understand 
and  perfectly  hear,  and  most  willingly  join  with  them  that 
used  prayers  and  devotions  for  her.  In  which  words  of  piety 
and  devotion,  presently  after  her  desire  of  absolution,  moving 
her  dying  lips  and  lifting  up  her  half-dead  hands  in  prayer, 
as  Paulinus™  writes  of  St.  Ambrose,  she  died  most  quietly, 
aud  departed  out  of  the  world  in  great  peace  both  of  body 
and  soul. 

"  Vita  S.  Ambrosii  a  Paulino  conscripta,  §  47.  inter  0pp.  S.  Ambros.  ii. 
par.  ii.  col.  xii.  edit.  Bened. 


336  Fragment  of  a  funeral  sermon. 

Append.  ^q^  n  ygj-^  ^g  g|.  Ambrose  himself  said  of  another,  non  obiit 
sed  abut,  she  is  not  dead,  but  gone  away  only  before  us  to 
a  better  abiding  than  any  here  is  in  this  vale  of  tears  below ; 
or  as  Nazianzen",  of  a  like  saint,  'This  was  the  manner  of 
her  laying  down  this  her  earthly  tabernacle,  or  to  speak 
more  properly,  of  the  assumption  of  her  blessed  soul  into 
heaven/  where,  as  in  Abraham's  bosom,  we  will  leave  her 
in  peace,  resting  with  Christ,  as  we  verily  trust,  in  eternal 
glory. 

To  which,  &c. 

"  S.  Ambros.  de  Obit.  Valent.  inter      goniae,  inter  0pp.,  torn.  i.  p.  120.  edit. 
0pp.,  torn,  ii.  186.  edit.  Bened.  1630. 

"  S.  Greg.  Nazianz.  in  laudem  Gor- 


APPENDIX  III. 


BRANCEPATH. 

DOMINICA  SECUNDA  POST  TRINITATEM.  1628. 

St.  Luke  xiv.  16 — 20. 

A  certain  man  made  a  great  supper,  and  bade  many ; 

And  sent  his  servant  at  supper  time  to  say  to  them  that  were 
bidden,  Come  ;  for  all  things  are  now  ready. 

But  they  all  at  once  began  to  make  excuse.  The  first  said, 
I  have  bought  a  farm,  and  1  must  needs  go  see  it ;  I  pray 
thee  have  me  excused. 

Another  said,  I  have  bought  five  yoke  of  oxen,  and  I  go  to  prove 
them ;  I  pray  thee  have  me  excused. 

And  another  said,  I  have  married  a  wife,  and  therefore  I  can- 
not come,  ^c. 

I  SHALL  open  my  mouth  here  to-day  in  a  parable,  but  Pa.  78.  2. 
I  shall  speak  no  hard  sentences  of  old.  For  though  there 
be  parables  that  are  obscuri  sensus,  hard  to  be  understood, 
yet  this  is  none  of  them.  An  easy  and  a  familiar  similitude 
it  is ;  which  every  one  will  be  ready  to  conceive  that  knows 
what  a  great  supper,  or  a  great  farm  is,  or  that  can  skill 
of  five  yoke  of  oxen,  and  tell  of  a  sixth,  which  is  a  mar- 
ried wife. 

To  such  low  comparisons  doth  Christ  otherwhiles  descend, 
that  the  knowledge  of  His  kingdom,  being  hidden  from  the  Lu.  10. 21. 
wise  and  prudent,  who  think  too  basely  of  it,  might  be  re- 
vealed to  the  ignorant  and  babes,  even  in  their  own  terms 
and  language.  For  them  of  the  country  here,  he  compares  it 
to  husbandry;  for  them  of  the  city  elsewhere,  to  merchan-  Mat.  13. 
disc;  for  sea- faring  men,  to  fishing;  for  way-faring  men,  to  ■^^^.  ^  jg 


338  Fragment  of  a  sermon,  S^c. 

Append,   a  voyage ;    and  because  there  be  some  wbich  never  come 

'■ —  abroad,  they  shall  know  it  by  their  leaven  which  they  keep 

83.  at  home ;  every  one  by  that  which  suits  their  disposition  and 

apprehension  best :  and  all  these  for  our  readier  and  often 
applying  of  these  sensible  and  outward  things  to  those  inward 
1  Cor.  2.  9.  and  heavenly  matters,  which  neither  eye  hath  seen,  nor  ear 
hath  heard ;  that  having  the  irpoOeaus  of  the  similitude,  as 
farms  here,  and  oxen,  before  our  eyes,  we  might  of  ourselves 
make  the  airohoai'i,  and  preach  more  sermons  by  far  with 
ease  than  we  can  possibly  hear  with  pain. 

Otherwhiles  some  men  are  wont  to  complain  of  obscurity 
and  hardness  to  understand  our  Gospel,  here  they  shall  have 
no  cause  to  do  it ;  of  keeping  house  and  making  a  feast,  of 
bidding  guests  and  making  excuses,  who  hath  not  heard? 
Ye  shall  now  hear  of  them  again.  And  by  these  similitudes 
ye  shall  learn  both  to  conceive  what  that  heavenly  feast  is, 
which  God  hath  made  for  you  in  the  kingdom  of  grace  here, 
and  prepared  for  you  in  the  kingdom  of  glory  hereafter ;  as 
also  to  consider  what  an  unthankful  wretchedness  it  is, 
to  let  farms,  or  oxen,  or  wives,  or  whatsoever  else  you  use 
to  leave,  call  you  back  from  it,  when  you  are  hereunto  so 
often  invited. 


APPENDIX  IV. 


PsALH  cxxii.  6. 
Rogate  pacem  .  .  . 
Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem,  they  shall  prosper  that  love  it. 

The  text  is  as  the  day  is,  tending  both  to  religion  and  Seep.  106. 
peace;    the    day   a    public    acknowledgment    and   thanks- 
giving', and  thiB  text  a  public  desire  for  the  establishment 
of  a  religious  peace  and  quietness  in  our  Jerusalem,  both 
in  Church  and  commonwealth. 

And  as  there  is  no  greater  blessing  to  a  state  than  to  enjoy 
that  peace,  so  is  there  not  any  means  more  available  to  pro- 
cure it,  nor  any  more  effectual  to  preserve  it,  than  what  this 
text  here  prescribes  us,  rogare  pacem,  to  come  out  and  pray 
for  it;  as  the  provident  piety  and  wisdom  of  the  state  hath 
at  this  time  appointed  us ;  thanksgiving  and  prayer. 

There  is  in  the  text  a  precept  and  a  promise.  A  precept 
for  prayer,  and  a  promise  for  prosperity ;  it  will  be  the  pre- 
cept only  that  I  shall  treat  on  to-day.  And  because  it  is  a 
day  of  thanksgiving,  therefore  have  I  chosen  a  precept  out  of 
a  psalm,  which  makes  it  to  be  praceptum  cantabile,  the  better 
for  that;  a  precept  that  may  be  sung,  and  a  commandment 
that  may  be  performed  with  cheerfulness  and  delight. 

And  let  it  not  trouble  any  man  that  I  call  it  a  precept ; 
for  though  it  may  seem  to  run  in  terms  of  wishing  and 
advice  only,  as  we  read  it  in  our  Psalter,  yet  are  we  to  make 
account  that  the  Holy  Ghost  adviseth  and  wisheth  nothing 

*  It  is  probable  that  the  sermon,  of  that  with   Spain,   December  5,  1630, 

which  this  is  a  fragment,  was  preached  (Rushw.,  ii.  75,)  but  the  editor   has 

either    upon    the   peace  with   France,  met  with   no   evidence  to  shew  that 

June  10,  1629,  (Rushworth,  ii.  23,  44;  a  thanksgiving  was   appointed   upon 

Echard,  ii.  88 ;    Rymer,  xix.  87,)   or  either  of  these  occasions. 

z2 


340 


Fragment  of  a  thanksgiving 


Append, 
IV. 


here  but  that  which  carries  the  nature  of  an  edict  and  an 
injunction  along  with  it;  for  ever  in  His  optative  there  will 
be  found  an  imperative,  not  to  fail,  if  either  we  have  any 
will  or  any  affection  that  come  to  hear  it. 

In  this  precept  then  there  are  these  things  considerable. 

(1.)  The  Church  and  the  state  first ;  both  set  forth  under 
the  title  of  Jerusalem. 

(2.)  The  religious  care  and  love  that  is  to  be  extended  to 
either;  expressed  in  the  word  rogate. 

(3.)  And  thirdly,  the  felicity  and  happiness  of  them 
both ;  which  is  comprehended  under  the  title  and  bless- 
ings of  peace. 

All  which  will  fall  out  to  be  the  heads  of  our  present  dis- 
course. But  now  before  I  speak  any  further  I  shall  desire 
you  to  help  me  with  your  prayers  unto  Almighty  God  for 
the  assistance  of  His  Holy  Spirit,  &c. 


Prov.  15. 
23. 


(I.)  We  begin  with  Jerusalem ;  which,  as  it  is  described 
here  at  the  second  verse,  gives  us  our  opus  diei  in  die  suo ; 
being  a  city  or  a  kingdom  that  is  at  unity  in  itself,  and  at 
peace  with  other  cities  and  kingdoms  abroad ;  as  our  Jeru- 
salem now  is. 

This  Jerusalem  is  the  subject  upon  which  we  are  to  work, 
and  the  body  for  which  the  Holy  Ghost  would  have  every 
man  to  be  careful,  Jerusalem,  wherever  we  find  it,  (and 
theirs  was  but  a  shadow  of  ours,)  is  a  body  that  consists  of 
two  parts ;  and  those  two  parts  be  the  Church  and  the  king- 
dom ;  the  Church  at  the  first  verse,  called  the  house  of  the 
Lord,  and  the  kingdom  at  the  fifth,  called  the  house  of  king 
David ;  and  both  these  houses  stood  joined  together. 

So  that  Jerusalem  stands  not  here  for  the  city  and  the 
state  alone,  nor  for  the  temple  and  the  Church  alone,  but 
for  both  together  united  in  one  body;  either  of  them  will 
make  up  but  one  Jerusalem. 

Where,  at  the  fii'st  we  see  (and  it  is  a  good  sight  to  see), 
God's  house  and  the  king's,  the  Church  and  the  state,  in 
a  near  conjunction.  A  happy  conjunction  when  these  two 
are  met  together  in  Jerusalem  ;  in  Jerusalem,  or  in  any 
city,  in  any  place  or  kingdom  besides. 

To  these  thus  joined  together  by  God,  what  is  our  duty? 


sermon  for  peace.  341 

First,  as  we  find  them  close  joined  to  our  hands,  so  to  keep 
them.  Homo  ne  separet ;  not  to  sever  them  at  any  hand,  for  Y,.\i.  19. 
they  are  like  twins;  the  happiness  and  life  of  the  one  de- 
pends upon  the  happiness  and  life  of  the  other;  they  will 
grow  and  fade,  they  will  live  and  die  together.  Then  homo 
ne  solvat,  not  to  make  the  knot  of  amity  and  peace  between 
them  more  slack  or  loose  than  it  is  here  in  the  Psalm,  where 
they  are  united  and  woven  up  togetlier  so  close,  that  as  the 
kingdom  and  the  house  of  David  shall  be  ready  to  serve  the 
house  of  God  and  to  seek  the  prosperity  of  His  Church,  so 
shall  God  be  ready  to  enlarge  the  prosperity  of  the  king- 
dom ;  and  propter  domum  Domini,  (as  it  is  in  the  last  verse,) 
even  for  the  Church's  sake.  He  will  do  the  kingdom  and  the 
commonwealth  good. 

Therefore  look  to  this  well,  not  to  sever  them  ourselves, 
and  not  to  endure  them  that  are  tampering  about  it.  Not 
with  the  papist,  that  would  pull  down  God's  house  which 
is  amongst  us,  and  set  up  their  own ;  not  with  the  Anabap- 
tist, that  would  pull  down  king  David's  house  clean,  no  king 
nor  kingdom  in  Israel,  they,  but  every  one  a  king  iu  his 
own  cottage ;  not  the  libertine  and  atheist,  that  would  pull 
down  all,  and  leave  us  neither  God's  house  nor  the  king's, 
neither  any  religion  in  the  Church,  nor  any  government  in 
the  state,  so  every  man  must  do  what  seems  good  in  his 
own  eyes. 

But  set  this  down  for  a  rule,  that  as  we  are  members  of 
both,  so  we  are  to  be  careful  to  preserve  both,  and  to  join 
together  for  the  good  and  prosperity  of  them  both. 

And  set  this  down  withal,  that  there  is  no  surer  friend,  no 
surer  stay  to  a  kingdom,  than  to  be  careful  of  religion ;  and 
as  on  the  one  side  that  it  is  a  sure  sign  of  a  good  religion,  if 
it  will  join  to  uphold  the  state  of  the  kingdom,  so  on  the 
other  side  it  is  an  infallible  note  of  a  bad  one,  if  it  shrinks 
up  the  sinews  of  civil  obedience  ^ 

Yet  a  sort  of  men  there  be  with  whom  Jerusalem  is  not  as 
it  would  be.  Some  that  are  so  zealous  for  the  state  and  the 
commonwealth  of  the  kingdom,  that  religion  is  quite  set 
aside,  and  the  commonwealth  of  the  Church  clean  forgotten 
amoDg  them ;  and  other  some  so  zealous  for  the  Church  .  . 
**  The  following  passage  is  marked  for  omission. 


342  Fragment  of  a  thanksgiving  sermon. 

Append.       And  an  evil  use  it  is  that  has  possessed  the  world,  when 
commonly  we  cannot  affect  one  part  of  Jerusalem  but  we 


must  presently  fall  either  to  despise  or  neglect  the  other; 
raise  the  price  of  one  virtue,  and  cry  down  all  the  rest  to 
nothing.  Wherein  two  sorts  of  men  are  most  faulty; 
zealots  both,  and  both  disturbers  of  our  peace.  They  that 
are  all  for  the  temporal,  the  house  of  David,  to  swallow 
up  the  house  of  God ;  and  they  that  are  all  for  the  spiritual, 
domus  Domini,  the  house  of  the  Lord,  to  take  up  all  the 
room,  and  to  justle  out  the  house  of  David;  as  if  there 
could  be  no  affection  shewn  to  the  one,  unless  there  be 
some  stratagem  to  destroy  or  disgrace  the  other.     But  so 

Ps.  122. 8.  hard  a  matter  it  is,  and  ever  was,  to  keep  Jerusalem  at 
unity  within  itself,  or  for  stirring  and  hot  humours  to 
hold  a  mean.  For  in  the  one  of  these  there  is  a  false 
religion,  and  in  the  other  there  is  none  at  all.  Our  care 
then  to  be  that  either  be  preserved  in  his  right.  God  hath 
coupled  them  here;  and  since  God  hath  coupled  them,  let 

Mat.  19.  6.  no  man  put  them  asunder. 

The  sura  is,  that  to  be  careful  for  God's  house  and  the 
Church  is  to  be  a  good  Christian;  to  be  careful  for  the 
king's  house  and  the  state  is  to  be  a  good  subject;  and  both 
these  are  in  God's  eyes  most  acceptable.  Yea,  and  it  will 
ever  likewise  be  found  true,  the  better  Christian  the  better 
subject ;  and  the  more  religious  towards  God  and  His  house, 
the  more  obedient  towards  the  king  and  his  laws  .  .  . 


APPENDIX  v.- 


St.  Matthew  xiii.  27,  28. 

So  the  servants  of  the  householder  came  and  said  vnto  him, 
Sir,  didst  not  thou  sow  good  seed  in  thy  field  ?  From 
whence  then  hath  it  those  tares  ? 

He  saith  unto  them,  The  envious  man  hath  done  this. 

This  is  that  which  we  call  the  parable  of  the  tares.  The 
text  does  neither  begin  nor  end  it ;  it  is  but  a  little  part  of 
it ;  yet  as  little  as  it  is,  it  brings  into  it  the  substance  of  all 
that  which  went  before  it,  that  we  may  be  sure  we  sliall  have 
matter  enough  to  hold  us  discourse  for  that  little  while  that 
I  am  to  hold  you  here.  For  the  latter  part  of  the  parable, 
which  is  about  the  cleansing  of  the  field,  we  think  that  may 
deserve  an  entire  discourse  by  itself;  so  we  will  let  that 
alone.  But  for  the  former  part,  which  is  about  the  sowing 
in  of  the  good  seed,  and  the  growing  up  of  the  bad  tares, 
that  we  have  all  here  in  the  text  to  be  despatched  now. 

There  are  three  verses  of  the  parable  that  go  before  the 
text,  and  they  are  all  to  be  found  in  it ;  the  last  of  them  is 
fetched  in  by  the  first  word  of  this  ;  *  so,'  or,  *  then  the  ser- 
vants came.'  'Then,'  they  came?  When?  Why  when 
the  blade  was  sprung  up  and  the  tares  appeared,  then  the 
servants  came. 

There  is  one  verse  that  we  must  necessarily  have  a  reflec- 
tion upon,  not  to  discourse  of  it  amply,  but  only  to  give  a 
touch  at  it,  as  it  touches  the  text.     Then  for  the  first  verse, 

'  This  and  the  two  following  frag-  editor   is  by  no  means  sure  that  the 

ments  of  sermons  upon  the  same  text  arrangement  whicii  he  has  here  adopted 

are  so  disarranged,  apparently  by  the  is  the  most  accurate, 
binder  of  the   MS.    volume,    that  the 


344  Fragment  of  a  sermon 

Append,   the  man  that  sowed  good  seed  in  his  field ;    that  is  here 

'■ again  in  so  many  words,  '  Sir,  didst  not  thou  sow  good  seed 

in  thy  field?'  And  lastly,  for  the  second,  the  enemy  that 
came  and  sowed  tares  and  went  his  way ;  that  is  here  too  in 
the  words  that  follow,  'These  tares,  the  envious  man  has 
sowed  them/  So  by  keeping  of  ourselves  to  this  part  of 
the  parable,  we  shall  have  the  advantage ;  and  by  these 
two  verses,  despatch  the  three  that  went  before  them. 

And  now  we  have  them  in,  you  shall  see  we  will  go  out 
no  more,  nor  meddle  with  them  more  than  needs  must,  but 
keep  our  meditations  close  to  the  words  of  the  text  itself, 
which  brings  these  other  in ;  not  as  men  used  to  have  in- 
coherences for  want  of  matter,  but  it  has  a  natural  reference 
to  them,  whether  we  would  or  no. 

The  words  that  I  have  read,  then,  are  a  conference  or 
a  consultation  betwixt  the  householder  and  his  servants, 
that  is,  God  and  man,  that  we  may  make  no  more  ado 
about  that ;  and  the  consultation  is  about  the  tares  that 
were  seen  to  spring  up  in  a  good  field;  what  should  be 
the  cause  of  them,  or  how  they  should  come  there.  And 
so  for  the  parts  of  it,  we  have  thus  many. 

To  begin  withal ;  we  have  first  their  confession  on  God's 
behalf. 

Before  we  can  go  on,  the  first  word  stays  us  to  take  in 
the  verse  that  goes  before,  or  the  connexion  of  them  to- 
gether ;  so  for 

And  in  the  resolution  of  it,  though  men  of  our  day  can- 
not agree,  yet  it  were  to  be  wished  some  of  them  had  a  little 
of  that  modesty  which  the  servants  had  here ;  who  by  no 
means  would  be  brought  to  lay  any  fault  upon  God,  but 
take  it  for  certain  that  He  is  the  sower  of  none  but  good 
seed,  and  then  we  should  have  no  pious  ears  ofi'ended  with 
these  harsh  consultations ;  that  the  sin  of  Adam  was  per 
occultum  Dei  decretum,  and  that  without  His  decree,  no 
detestable  or  evil  thing  is  done;  and  that  it  was  necessary 
that  men  should  sin ;  that  Deus  habuit  opus  peccatore,  had 
need  of  sin,  as  being  not  able  otherwise  to  come  to  His 
ends  that  He  aimed  at;  with  other  such  strange  doctrine, 
that  our  new  masters  have  of  late  fished  out  of  the  lake, 


upon  the  parable  of  the  tares.  345 

■where  at  the  bottom  certainly  lay  some  Manichee  ^  or  other 
that  taught  it  them,  who  yet  nevertheless  were  ashamed  to 
put  it  upon  God  Himself,  as  if  He  were  the  author  of  any 
eviJ,  That  had  sowed  good  seed :  and  therefore  they  made 
another  god  for  it,  a  black  god  besides  their  white  one, 
as  you  have  heard  of  black  and  white  devils.  This  is 
that  opinion  which  St.  Augustine  *=  being  infected  withal  at 
first  nine  whole  years,  as  himself  confesses,  did  afterwards 
abhor  so  much;  which  I  tell  you,  that  we  might  abhor 
it  as  much  as  he;  though  some  would  make  him  come 
somewhat  nearer  it  still,  when  he  writes  in  his  heat  against 
Pelagius.  I  will  not  stand  to  dispute  it,  it  is  all  to  main- 
tain their  absolute  reprobation,  which  certainly  will  never 
be  defended  unless  this  text  and  the  whole  Scripture  be 
erased,  and  God  made  the  cause  of  these  tares. 

That  is  the  nature  of  an  envious  man,  he  can  endure  to 
see  no  man's  field  prosper ;  as  long  as  it  lies  fallow,  he  is 
content  withal,  but  if  God  once  ploughs  up  the  fallow 
ground  of  our  hearts,  and  sows  good  seed  in  them,  then 
in  comes  he  with  his  tares  too;  and  if  God  prepares  us 
with  His  grace,  he  will  spoil  us  with  his  baits;  and  the 
more  bountiful  that  our  God  is  towards  us,  the  more  en- 
vious ever  is  he.  So  there  was  but  one  unclean  spirit  in 
the  man  at  first,  but  when  he  was  cleansed  and  his  house 
made  clean  and  garnished,  then  for  very  spite  he  comes  Mat.  12. 
again  himself,  and  seven  other  with  him  worse  than  he.  lu.  li.  2G. 
This  is  because,  as  the  text  saith,  he  is  an  envious  man, 
that  you  may  know  he  has  not  his  name  for  nought. 

Now  the  text  is  done ;  but  if  I  should  leave  off  here,  we 
that  are  men  should  go  too  freely  away.  For  is  the  devil  in 
all  the  fault,  an  we  say,  to  keep  us  to  the  text,  he  did  it  the 
more  enviously,  because  he  did  it  when  we  were  asleep ;  for 
else  perhaps  we  might  have  been  too  ware  of  him. 

I  mean   tares   of  doctrine,  as  well  as  tares  of  life  and 

''  SeeHeylyn'sQuinquarticularHis-  tained  in  the  eleventh  volume  of  the 

tory  of  the  Western  Churches,  chap.  i.  Benedictine  edition  of  his  works,  lib.  i. 

§  3.  Tracts,  p.  506.  edit.  1681.  cap.  6.  §  4. 

•^  See  the  Life  of  St.  Augustine  con- 


346  Fragment  of  a  sermon 

Appekd,   manners.     And  thouffh   the   Church   of  Rome  would  fain 
'- —  make  us  believe  that  she  cannot  err,  that  the  devil  has  no 


power  over  her  to  sow  tares  there,  and  that  the  pope  is  such 
a  watchful  vigilant  man  as  he  can  never  be  overtaken  with 
any  error;  yet  see  the  luck  of  it,  they  have  eight  several 
times  confessed  in  their  synod  of  Trent  that  hominum  in- 
curia  and  temporum  injuria  ^,  j  ast  as  it  is  here.  While  men 
were  sleepy  and  negligent,  many  abuses  and  tares  have  crept 
into  their  masses,  and  images,  and  indulgences. 

Now  then  for  a  conclusion  of  all ;  since  we  have  found  out 
the  cause  of  all  these  tares  and  evil  in  the  world,  if  we  would 
not  be  troubled  with  it  we  must  remove  the  cause  from 
whence  it  comes,  we  must  not  think  so  much  of  the  tares  as 
we  must  see  the  cause  of  them ;  for  if  we  go  to  remove  an 
evil  and  remove  not  the  cause  of  it,  we  shall  go  the  wrong 
vt^ay  to  work ;  as  they  use  to  say  in  physic.  If  ye  remove  not 
the  cause  of  a  disease,  but  apply  medicines  to  the  part  affected 
only,  well  may  you  have  ease  for  a  while,  but  when  it  comes 
again  the  sickness  will  be  far  worse  than  it  was  before.  And 
if  we  go  about  to  remove  the  cause,  we  must  be  sure  to  take 
the  true  one ;  for  if  we  take  one  for  another,  run  to  God 
Gen.  3. 12.  when  it  is  the  devil,  or  say  as  Adam  did.  It  is  the  woman 
that  made  me  do  it,  when  it  was  himself;  as  they  say  again, 
we  may  make  up  one  breach,  and  fall  into  a  worse,  heal 
a  fever  with  cramp.  So  then,  since  we  know  what  the  true 
cause  is  of  all  the  evil  that  is  in  the  world,  the  envy  of  the 
devil,  and  the  negligence  of  our  ownselves,  these  are  the  two 
things  that  we  must  take  away.  Nay  we  shall  not  be  put  to 
so  much,  let  us  but  take  away  one,  and  the  other  will  tarry 
Mat.  24.  away  of  itself.  It  is  our  saving  caveat  that  He  gives  us  to 
42,  &c.  watch,  for  then  the  thief  will  not  come ;  the  devil  knows  it 
well  that  he  can  do  but  little  good  with  us  if  we  will  but  keep 
ourselves  but  waking,  and  how  is  that,  but  by  continual  em- 
ployment of  ourselves  about  God's  service,  to  be  instant  at 
prayer,  to  be  devoted  to  His  sanctuary,  to  be  given  to  all 
good  works;  this  is  to  keep  our  eyes  open;  for  if  these 
things  be  not  done  of  us,  why  then  our  souls  are  lulled  asleep 

**  Sess.  xxi.   De  cominun.  sub  utra-      trina  de  Sacramento  Matrimonii,  etc. 
qUe  specie,  cap.  i. ;    Sess.  xxiv.   Doc-      Binii  Cone,  tom.  ix.  p.  399,  411. 


upon  the  parable  of  the  tares.  347 

by  the  charms  of  the  flesh  and  the  vanities  of  the  world,  and 
so  the  devil  breaks  in  upon  [us]  ;  and  as  the  priests  would 
have  the  soldiers  say,  steals  Christ  away  from  us  while  we  are  Mat.  28. 
asleep ;   and  when  Christ  is  gone,  we  lay  still,  and  let  him 
sow  what  tares  in  our  hearts  he  lists.   And  we  had  need  take 
the  better  heed  of  it ;  for  though  he  does  it  out  of  envy,  yet 
he  does  it  subtilly :  as  long  as  he  has  us  in  a  sleep,  he  can 
make  us  dream  that  there  is  no  such  matter,  but  that  he 
does  all  out  of  good  will  to  us ;  make  Paul  think  he  does  God  Acts 26. 9. 
good  service,  when  he  makes  havoc  of  Christians'  blood ;  and  Acts  8.  3. 
the  people  think  they  are  very  zealous  for  the  law,  when  they 
cry  to  have  Christ  crucified ;  and  though  he  be  the  prince  of 
darkness,  yet  for  the  time  he  is  an  angel  of  light;  come  to  2  Cor.  11. 
us  with  a  psalter  in  his  hand  and  tell  us  we  may  venture  ^  «  *  4  g 
fall  of  the  pinnacle,  it  would  do  us  no  hurt  at  all,  the  cherubin 
would  hover  under  us  with  their  wings ;  and  so  bring  us  to 
avarice,  and  make  us  believe  and  dream  of  nothing  but  pro- 
vidence; and  to  pride,  while  we  dream  of  nothing-but  honest 
dignities.    What,  he  envious?   No,  he  is  acquainted  with 
Jesus  and  Paul  too ;  here  is  no  enmity  betwixt  them,  and  so  ActslG.  16. 
far  from  envy  to  us,  that  if  we  be  restrained  by  God,  yet  he 
would  not  grudge  us  the  best  fruit  in  the  garden.    And  thus  Gen.  3.  4. 
with  his  subtilties,  if  we  be  not  watchful  and  aware  of  him, 
he  overthrows  and  spoils  all  the  good  that  God  has  formerly 
bestowed  upon  us ;  and  therefore  if  ever,  certainly  it  is  now 
time  to  awake,  we  that  sleep,  and  to  stand  up  against  these 
assaults  of  the  devil.     If  we  will  fold  our  arms  and  embrace 
the  pleasures  of  the  world,  and  sleep  on,  no  marvel  though 
our  field  be  grown  full  of  thorns,  says  Solomon ;    if  the  Prov.  24. 
mariners  be  asleep  the  vessel  will  quickly  suff*er  shipwreck ; 
and   if  the  watchman  wake   not,  the   city  is   soon  taken. 
*  Watch  therefore,  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation.'     And  Mat.  26. 
that  God,  to  Whom  we  pray  every  day  that  we  may  not  be 
led  into  it,  keep  us  from  all  spiritual  drowsiness ;  that  when 
the  devil  comes  he  may  find  us  waking  and  go  his  ways,  and 
when  Christ  comes  He  may  find  us  watchers  for  Him,  and 
take  us  with  Him  out  of  His  own  field,  into  everlasting 
tabernacles.     To  which  He,  &c. 


APPENDIX  VI, 


PAKIS,   EVANGELIUM  DOMINICA   QUINTS   POST   EPIPHANIAM,    165]. 

St.  Matthew  xiii.  24. 
Simile  est  regnum  ccelorum  homini  seminanti  in  agro,  i^c. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  sowed  good 

seed  in  his  field  : 
But  while  men  slept,  his  enemy  came  and  sowed  tares  among 

the  wheatf  and  went  his  way. 
But  when  the  blade  was  sprung  up,  and  had  brought  forth 

fruit,  then  appeared  the  tares  also. 
So  the  servants  of  the  householder  came  and  said  unto  him, 

Sir,  didst  not  thou  sow  good  seed  in  thy  field  ?  from  whence 

then  hath  it  tares  ? 
He  said  unto  them,  The  envious  man  hath  done  this.     The 

servants  said  unto  him.  Wilt  thou  then  that  we  go  and 

weed  them  up  ? 
But  he  said,  Nay ;  lest  while  ye  gather  up  the  tares,  ye  root 

up  also  the  wheat  with  them. 
Let  both  grow  together  till  the  harvest:    and  in  the  time  of 

harvest  I  will  say  to  the  reapers,  Gather  ye  first  the  tares, 

and  bind  them  together  in  bundles  to  be  burnt ;  but  gather 
\    the  wheat  into  my  barn. 

Append.       Which  parable  Christ  Himself  hath  explained  for  us  in 

'- —  the  thirty-seventh  verse. 

He  that  sowed  the  good  seed  is  the  Son  of  Man;  the  field 
is  the  world ;  the  good  seed  are  the  children  of  the  kingdom, 
but  the  tares  are  the  children  of  the  wicked  one;  the  enemy 
that  sowed  them  is  the  devil ;  the  harvest  is  the  end  of  the 
world,  and  the  reapers  are  the  Angels.  He  that  hath  ears 
to  hear,  let  him  hear. 


Fragment  of  a  sermon,  S^c.  349 

This  is  the  last  Sunday  after  the  Epiphany,  and  this  the 
last  Gospel  of  them  all ;  being  so  ordered  by  the  Church, 
because  it  is  the  last  Epiphany,  that  is,  the  last  manifesta- 
tion, that  Christ  will  make  of  Himself  to  the  world,  when  at 
the  end  of  it  He  will  come  to  His  harvest,  and  bring  His 
reapers  with  Him. 

It  is  a  parable  that  runs  all  upon  a  similitude  between  the 
estate  or  condition  of  Ciirist's  Church,  and  the  sowing  or 
growing  of  a  field. 

For  by  the  kingdom  of  heaven  here,  both  in  this  place, 
and  through  this  whole  chapter,  there  can  be  nothing  else 
understood  but  His  Church  in  all  ages,  I  will  give  you  the 
reasons  for  it  by  and  by. 

But  I  shall  first  set  forth  the  parts  of  this  parable,  and  tell 
you  in  what  order  and  method  I  will  proceed  with  them  all. 

Three  general  branches  there  be  in  it,  which  extend  and 
dilate  themselves  into  many  other  particulars. 

(1.)  The  field  first,  which  is  the  world,  and  the  resemblance 
of  Christ's  kingdom  here,  which  is  the  Church;  sowed  both 
with  good  seed  and  over-sowed  with  bad.  A  Church  that 
hath  both  wheat  and  tares  spread  in  it.  That  will  take  up 
two  verses. 

(2.)  Then  the  discovery  of  these  tares,  and  the  discerning 
of  them,  after  they  were  grown  up,  from  the  wheat  itself; 
that  will  take  up  another. 

(3.)  And  thirdly,  the  consultation  here  had  about  them, 
between  the  servants  and  the  master  of  the  field,  both  how 
those  tares  came  in,  and  how  they  should  be  gotten  out ;  and 
this  takes  up  all  the  rest. 

It  will  be  all  we  can  do  to-day  to  view  the  first  of  these 
three,  wherein,  after  we  have  taken  notice  of  the  Church,  how 
it  is  here  called,  and  how  compared,  we  shall  have  no  less 
than  six  points  to  consider  in  Him  that  sowed  the  good  seed 
there ;  and  as  many  in  him  that  sowed  the  bad. 

In  the  first  the  sower ;  and  second,  his  sowing ;  third,  the 
seed;  fourth,  His  good  seed;  fifth,  the  field;  and  sixth,  His 
own  field ;  these  six  in  the  former. 

II.  In  the  second,  then  the  enemy ;  and  second,  his  sow- 
ing; third,  the  tares,  which  are  his  own;  and  fourth,  the 
ground,  which  is  none  of  his   own;    fifth,  the  time   that 


350  Fragment  of  a  sermon,  ^c. 

Append,   he  takes  to  come,  when  men  are  asleep ;  and  sixth,  the  haste 


he  makes  to  be  gone  as  soon  as  ever  he  has  done  the  mischief. 
These  six  in  the  latter. 

Upon  all  which,  as  likewise  upon  all  the  rest  that  are  to 
follow  hereafter,  that  we  may  the  better  attend  them  and 
make  a  religious  and  spiritual  use  of  them,  Christ  hath  here 
set  His  epiphonema,  and  charged  us  to  give  good  ear  to  them. 
*  Let  him  that  heareth  hear.' 

And  that  we  may  both  hear  and  speak  of  these  worthily, 
as  we  ought  to  do,  to  the  honour  of  Almighty  God,  the  pre- 
servation and  advancement  of  His  true  and  uncorrupted 
religion  among  us,  let  us  beseech  Him  to  assist  us  with  His 
grace  and  heavenly  benediction,  &c. 

Our  Father,  &c. 

And  lastly,  this  field  is  His  own ;  His  own  by  inheritance, 
Heb.  1.  2.  for  He  is  the  heir  of  the  world.  And  His  own  by  purchase, 
Eev,  5.  9.  for  He  redeemed  the  world ;  He  bought  it  when  it  was  sold, 
and  paid  dearly  for  it ;  which  gives  Him  His  sole  right  in  it, 
and  allows  no  other,  either  any  power  to  dispose  of  it  to 
whom  they  think  fit,  or  any  liberty  to  order  it  and  sow  it 
with  what  grain  they  please,  that  never  came  from  Him. 

II.  And  so  I  come  to  the  second  part,  to  him  that  came 
into  this  field  after  Him,  and  there  sowed  the  tares. 

Who  is  first  called  here  the  enemy,  and  afterwards  said  to 
be  the  devil,  and  such  as  he  sets  to  work  under  him. 


APPENDIX  VII. 


PAEIS,   JUNE   11,   1651. 

DOMINICA  PRIMA  POST  TRINITATEM. 

St.  Matthew  xiii.  24,  25. 
Simile  est  regnum  ccelorum  homini  seminanti  in  agro,  &^c. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  sowed  good 

seed  in  his  field. 
But  while  men  slept,  his  enemy  came  and  sowed  tares  among 

the  wheat,  and  went  his  way. 

Here  is  a  parable  propounded,  which  is  afterwards  ex- 
plained by  Christ  Himself  to  be  intended  of  His  Church; 
the  state  and  condition  whereof,  as  it  is  now  at  this  present, 
besides  the  beginning  and  the  progress,  and  the  ending  of  it, 
as  it  hath  been  heretofore,  and  as  it  shall  be  in  time  to  come, 
are  all  set  forth  to  us  under  their  several  similitudes.  And 
first,  it  is  compared  to  a  field ;  a  field  as  large  as  the  world, 
sowed  by  Him  with  good  seed,  and  by  His  enemy  over-sowed 
with  bad.  In  either  of  which  we  have  no  less  than  six  points 
to  be  considered ;  six  in  Him,  and  as  many  in  His  enemy. 

These  six  in  the  former;  (1.)  the  sower,  (2.)  and  the 
sowing,  (3.)  the  seed,  and  (4.)  the  good  seed,  (5.)  the  field, 
and  (6.)  His  own  field;  *  Who  sowed  good  seed  in  His  field.' 

And  these  six  in  the  latter;  (1.)  the  sower,  (2.)  and  the 
sowing  again,  (3.)  the  tares,  which  are  his  own,  (4.)  and  the 
ground,  which  is  none  of  his  own,  (5.)  the  time  that  he  takes 
to  come,  (6.)  and  the  haste  that  he  makes  to  be  gone ;  *  Who 
came  while  men  slept,  and  sowed  his  tares  among  the  wheat, 
and  presently  went  his  way.' 

This  is  but  the  beginning  of  the  parable,  it  may  be  we 
shall  go  through  with  the  rest  of  it  hereafter,  till  we  come  to 


352  Fragment  of  a  sermon 

Append.   Christ's  eptphouema  and  charge  set  upon  it  at  the  end  of  all, 

vn. 


'  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear  it,  let  him  hear  it.* 

And  that  we  may  both  hear  and  speak  of  it  to  the  honour 
of  Almighty  God  and  the  preservation  of  His  true  religion 
amongst  us,  &c.,  &c. 

*  The  kingdom  of  heaven.'  Here  we  stay  first,  that  we 
may  see  before  us. 

For  by  the  kingdom  of  heaven  here,  is  not  meant  the 
kingdom  of  glory,  that  we  are  to  live  in  hereafter;  but  the 
kingdom  of  grace,  that  we  live  in  now ;  which  is  the  true 
and  the  visible  Church  of  Christ  here  upon  the  earth 

And  yet  it  is  called  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  this,  in  these 
several  respects.  First,  because  it  is  always  opposed  and  set 
against  the  kingdom  of  sin,  that  that  may  not  reign  over  us, 
nor  set  up  a  throne  in  our  hearts.  There  is  a  heaven  upon 
earth,  when  we  are  once  got  out  and  set  free  from  the 
tyranny  and  dominion  of  sin. 

(2.)  Because  the  devil  taketh  upon  him  to  be  a  king,  and 
hath  prevailed  so  far  upon  the  sons  and  daughters  of  men, 
that  the  greatest  part  of  the  world  is  subdued  unto  him.     In 
Joh.  14. 30.  which  regard  our  Saviour  calls  him  the  prince  of  this  world, 
2  Cor.  4.  4.  and  the  Apostle,  the  god  of  this  world.     Against  this  king- 
dom of  the  devil  God  sets  up  another  here  of  His  own,  which 
He  calls  His  Church,  and  the  kingdom  of  His  Son,  Whom 
He  sent  from  heaven  with  a  sceptre  in  His  hand;  'I  have 
Ps.  2.  6.      set  My  King  upon  My  holy  hill  of  Sion  ;'  '  the  sceptre  of 
Ps.  45.  6.     jjjg  kingdom  is  a  right  sceptre.'     That  sceptre  is  His  word, 
held  forth  to  us  in  the  Scriptures;   and  they  that  are  out 
there,  are  out  of  His  protection,  what  patronage  soever  they 
may  find  besides. 

For  (3.)  He  that  sits  upon  His  throne  in  heaven  is  the 
Head  of  that  Church,  and  rules  over  it  by  His  own  laws;  by 
exercising  His  power  and  His  wisdom.  His  justice  and  His 
mercy,  upon  it  all  the  world  over.  There  is  no  other  head 
nor  ruler  over  it,  but  He. 

(4.)  Fourthly,  because  the  riches  and  plenty  of  this  king- 
dom consist  all  in  heavenly  and  spiritual  provisions;  in  the 
knowledge  of  God's  sacred  and  heavenly  truth,  in  repent- 
ance, and  amendment  of  our  sinful  and  earthly  life,  in  faith 


upon  the  parable  of  the  tares.  353 

unfeigned,  in  righteousness  and  holiness,  in  love  and  joy,  and 
peace  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  Other  provisions  then  there  be, 
that  come  from  the  revenues  and  splendours  of  the  world ; 
they  belong  not  to  the  true  being  and  essentials  of  any 
Church  or  any  Christian  whatsoever. 

(5.)  Fifthly,  because  that  through  this  kingdom  of  grace 
is  the  way  and  the  passage  laid  open  to  heaven  itself;  there 
will  be  no  getting  thither  any  other  way. 

And  lastly,  though  it  be  no  present  fruition,  yet  it  is 
a  future  expectation  of  that  kingdom  in  heaven ;  it  is  porta 
coeli,  as  Jacob  calls  it,  the  gate  of  heaven,  and  the  porch  of  Gen.  28. 

17 

the  house ;  though  it  be  not  the  house  itself,  we  are  sure  of 
our  entry  by  it ;  or  it  is  appropinquatio  regni,  as  Christ  Him- 
self calls  it,  the  marches  and  borders  of  that  kingdom  it  is. 
We  are  entered  so  far  towards  it,  though  we  be  not  in 
heaven  itself,  and  thither  it  will  surely  bring  us. 

So  that  in  reference  to  this  appellation,  we  are  not  to 
attend  so  much  what  this  kingdom  appears  to  be  now,  as 
what  it  will  be  when  Christ  shall  appear  hereafter,  to  trans- 
late them  that  have  lived  well  in  His  kingdom  of  grace  here, 
to  His  kingdom  of  glory  there. 

And  it  is  a  great  comfort  to  us  this,  that  our  Saviour  thus 
mingles  His  kingdoms ;  that  He  makes  the  kingdom  of  grace 
and  the  kingdom  of  glory  all  one,  the  Church  and  heaven 
itself  all  one ;  assuring  us,  that  if  we  see  Him  as  He  looks 
in  hoc  speculo,  in  this  His  glass,  as  St.  Paul  terms  it,  the  i  Cor.  13. 
glass  of  His  ordinances  and  statutes  in  this  kingdom  of  His 
word  and  sacraments,  we  have  already  begun  to  see  Him  as 
He  looks  in  heaven,  and  as  He  is  in  His  majesty  in  that 
kingdom  of  eternal  glory. 

II.  Pass  we  then  the  appellation  and  come  to  the  com- 
parison. This  kingdom  of  heaven  is  compared  here  to  a 
field  that  is  sown.  Where  we  will  make  first,  in  general, 
that  Christ  in  His  comparisons  pursues  His  own  way,  and 
does  here  as  He  does  often  in  other  places.  He  speaks  in 
such  forms  and  such  similitudes  as  may  most  work  upon 
them  to  whom  He  speaks,  that  thereby  all  men  might  have 
the  word  of  His  kingdom  every  one  in  His  own  terms. 

Of  king  David,  who  was  a  shepherd  before,  God  says  to 
him,  that  He  took  him  away  from  the  sheep-folds  to  feed  Ps.  78. 71, 

73. 
cosiN.  A  a 


354  Fragment  of  a  sermon 

Append.    His  people,  and  he  fed  them  with  a  faithful  and  true  heart, 

VII 

'- —  and  ruled  them  prudently  with  all   his   power.     To   those 

magi,  the  wise  and  learned  men  of  the  east,  who  were  given 

Mat.  2.  2.  to  the  knowledge  and  study  of  the  stars,  Christ  gave  them 
a  star  to  be  their  guide  to  Him  at  Bethlehem  ;  a  guide  apt 
and  proper  for  them  that  were  learned  that  way;  their 
learning  did  them  no  hurt,  nor  set  them  ever  a  whit  the 
further  off  from  coming  to  Christ,  and  learning  Him  with  it. 

Mark  1.      To   those   that   were  fishing  in   the   waters,  St.  Peter,  St. 

^^'^^-  Andrew,  St.  James,  and  St.  John,  He  found  them  all  at  that 
employment,  and  presently  applied  it ;  told  them,  if  they 
would  follow  Him,  He  would  make  them  fishers  of  men. 
To  them   that  followed  Him  to  Capernaum  for  bread,  He 

Joh.  6. 27.  took  occasion  by  it  to  bid  them  look  after  the  bread  and 

Joh.  4. 10.  spiritual  food  of  their  souls.  To  the  Samaritan,  whom  He 
found  at  the  well.  He  preached  of  the  water  and  the  well 
of  life.  To  the  multitudes  that  stood  here  upon  the  land 
and  saw  the  fields  before  them,  He  presents  them  with 
a  similitude  of  the  same  nature  with  what  they  had  then  in 
their  eye,  and  preaches  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  them  by 
a  parable  taken  from  the  earth.  And  it  was  a  parable  taken 
up  and  uttered  by  Him  in  due  season  too,  for  at  this  very 
time,  when  He  was  here  preaching  to  them,  which  fell  out 
to  be  at  the  same  time  of  the  year**  and  in  the  same  month, 
as  Eusebius  reckons  it,  wherein  I  am  now  preaching  to  you, 
it  was  at  Palestine  the  second  seed  time,  when  the  sower 
went  out  to  sow.  It  was  ever  with  Christ  best  preaching 
upon  a  text  when  the  commentary  stood  before  His  audi- 
tory ;  that  they  might  have  the  easier  apprehension  of  His 
doctrine,  and  be  the  more  ready  to  apply  it,  make  both 
a  corporal  and  a  spiritual  use  of  what  they  saw  and  heard 
both  together. 

So  Christ  applies  Himself  to  all,  and  puts  no  man  out  of 
his  way  to  go  to  heaven ;  but  by  what  every  man  is  given  to 
by  his  own  employment,  preaches  heaven  to  him  and  calls 
him  thither,  makes  heaven  all  things  to  all  men,  that  He 
might  gain  some.  H  they  love  joy,  to  present  it  in  that 
notion ;  if  they  be  ambitious  of  glory,  to  set  it  forth  that 
way ;  to  the  merchant  that  seeks  after  wealth,  as  a  pearl  of 

^  See  Greswell's  Dissertations,  vol.  ii.  p.  302,  303. 


upon  the  parable  of  the  tares.  355 

great  price ;  to  the  rest  of  the  people,  that  stood  here  upon 
the  land,  and  saw  the  sower  at  his  work,  as^a  field  with  good 
seed  in  it,  growing  up  till  the  harvest. 

And  so  I  come  to  the  several  particulars  of  this  parable ; 
as  much  of  it  now  as  lies  in  those  two  verses  of  the  text, 
which  I  shall  pass  through  very  briefly. 

I.  There  are  to  be  seen  in  it,  referring  it  to  Christ's 
Church  here  upon  the  earth,  the  goodness  of  God  ; 

II.  The  malice  of  the  devil ; 

III.  And  the  negligence  of  men. 

I.  For  that  which  belongs  to  God's  part  and  Christ's; 
first,  as  He  made  all  things  good  at  the  beginning,  so  He  Gen.  i.  31. 
never  made  any  thing  after  that  is  evil.  The  whole  scope  of 
the  parable  is  to  clear  Him,  that  He  neither  sows  any  evil 
seed  in  the  world  Himself,  nor  that  He  employs  any  servants 
under  Him  for  that  purpose  at  all. 

Servant-sowers  there  are,  now  Filius  hominis  is  gone ;  but 
if  they  come  into  the  field  with  any  other  seed  than  He  left 
in  store  behind  Him,  He  owns  them  not ;  nor  will  His  reap- 
ers own  them,  when  the  time  of  harvest  comes.  But  then, 
as  every  plant  which  He  hath  not  planted  will  be  rooted  up, 
so  every  seed  that  He  hath  not  ministered  to  the  sower,  as 
quick  as  it  is  to  grow  up  among  the  corn,  and  as  fair  a  show 
as  it  makes  in  the  field  now. 


THE    END. 


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CEUECH  POETRY,  AND  PAEOCEIAL.  9 

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ARCEITECTURB  AND  AECRMOLOGT.  11 


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JOHN  HENRY  PARKEE,  C.B.,  F.S.A.,  HON.  M.A.  OXON. 
AN  INTRODUCTION  TO   THE   STUDY   OP   GOTHIC  ARCHI- 

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n:ew  and  standard  educational  works.        13 

THE  ANNALS  OF  ENGLAND.  An  Epitome  of  English  History. 
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POET  ARUM   SCENICORUM  GR^CORUM,  ^schyli,    Sophoclis, 

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LAWS  OF  THE  GREEK  ACCENTS.    By  John  Griffiths,  D.D., 

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14 


OXFORD  POCKET  CLASSICS. 


A  SERIES  OF  GREEK  AND  LATIN  CLASSICS 

FOR  THE  USE  OF  SCHOOLS. 


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